The Rise And Fall Of The Cruise Industry | Rise And Fall

this scrapyard in turkey is where cruise liners go to die these ships have been sold off and are being slowly torn apart at the end of a year which almost sank the global cruise industry 2020 was supposed to be a record-breaking year but as covert 19 gripped the globe cruise ships were hit by major outbreaks thousands of passengers and crew were stranded confined to their cabins and treated like biohazards when they finally disembarked as ships lay idle between march and september last year economic activity linked to cruising dropped by 77 billion dollars and over 500 000 jobs were lost for an industry that prides itself on its gleaming public image this was a disaster of titanic proportions but is this just a temporary crisis or will the pandemic change the industry forever today's cruise industry rose from the days of the grand ocean liners think the titanic in the early 20th century companies like cunard and white starline set a standard of luxury only the rich and famous could afford but the number of destinations was limited with many vessels plying the route between the united states and europe a first-class transatlantic ticket on board the hms lusitania in 1915 could cost up to 380 dollars the equivalent of almost 10 000 today the arrival of large passenger jet aircraft in the 1960s saw demand for sea travel fall away and atlantic crossings almost disappeared the industry had to adapt or die cruise line has re-emerged as floating entertainment palaces where the destination was less important than the on-board experience after a swim my hairdo just about everything for passenger comfort the 1960s and 70s saw the likes of norwegian royal caribbean and carnival enter the market prices dropped passenger numbers grew in 1970 an estimated 500 000 people took a cruise high society glamour turned into something more accessible and fun have you ever shot skeet before never in my life and he hasn't yet that reputation took hold in popular culture with the help of comedy series like the love boat set on board the pacific princess by the 1980s both the industry and the ships began to expand rapidly around 40 new ships were built in the 80s some able to hold as many as 3 000 passengers then stroll out onto acres of burnished deep decks and let your imagination roam free and the 90s saw the big three cruise lines compete to be the biggest and the best even media giants like disney joined the race with thematic cruises that featured beloved characters and live shows today's cruise liners can boast a wide array of features from water parks zip lines to planetariums royal caribbean symphony of the seas the world's largest cruise ship can hold almost 9 000 passengers and crew it's 100 meters longer than the titanic and twice as wide and the larger the ship the bigger the profit a floating city like this can generate 10 million dollars in revenue in just one seven day trip it seemed like nothing could stop this growth with passenger numbers almost doubling every decade by 2018 cruises were the fastest growing sector of the travel industry with a value of around 150 billion dollars [Music] the three major companies which dominate the market made nearly six billion dollars in combined profits during 2019 critics say that's due to their knack of keeping salaries and tax bills low by setting up their headquarters in so-called tax havens so carnival corporation before the pandemic was earning over three billion dollars in net profit but they pay virtually no income tax carnival is a panamanian corporation uh royal caribbean is a liberian corporation and norwegian cruise lines is a bermudian corporation in 2020 the cruise industry seemed on track for a record-breaking year expecting to welcome more than 32 million passengers on board the pandemic would change all that on the 1st of february 2020 a passenger who'd recently disembarked from the diamond princess ship in hong kong tested positive for covid19 3700 passengers and crew were quarantined on board in japan mark and jerry jorgensen were on the cruise and documented their experience news crews are back here's they're setting up the tents again they both caught coronavirus and over the next month more than 700 people on board were infected the ship had become the scene of the largest coronavirus outbreak outside china 14 people died cruise operators weren't prepared for the pandemic and the response was confused the diamond princess outbreak was to become one of many jennifer catron was on board carnival's costa luminosa for a transatlantic cruise when covid struck at first the virus spread unchecked but as fears grew passengers were confined to their cabins with the ship stranded at sea that one i ate off of i'm having a hard time allaying my doubts and my fears to try and trust the people that are in charge elisa mccafferty was on a cruise off the coast of australia when the outbreak hit she's part of a class action suing the ruby princess for failing to take appropriate measures to keep passengers safe an australian inquiry recorded 28 deaths and over 900 cases of covert 19 on board at no point did they tell us on the ship to social distance there were you know people crowding cheek to jail all over the ship social distancing just didn't exist on the 14th of march 2020 the u.s centers for disease control and prevention issued a no-sale order grounding all american cruise ships the ban was lifted towards the end of the year but with the global pandemic still out of control few ships returned to service in april 2020 an estimated 100 000 crew members were stuck on cruise ships prevented from docking around 20 ships are currently either being sold or scrapped because of the downturn in the u.s every day of inactivity across the industry costs approximately 110 million dollars in lost economic activity and around 800 jobs carnival the world's largest cruise company lost another 2.2 billion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2020 bringing losses from the pandemic to over 10 billion cruise ships were getting dubbed floating petri dishes providing the perfect conditions for a virus to spread a pr disaster that threatens to leave a lasting legacy the cruise industry is no stranger to setbacks including outbreaks of illnesses on board and it has usually managed to emerge unscathed so when they were hit with the norovirus outbreaks uh in 2000 2001 2002 they created a huge media campaign to reinforce how safe a cruise ship was and why the media was overblowing cruiseline has tried to spend their way out of this pr disaster too according to the new york times norwegians spent 7.6 million dollars more on digital ads between january and march 2020 than during the same period the year before competitors also increased their spending on advertising so let's do this but this time advertising alone couldn't help them attempts to restart cruising in november had to be abandoned as the virus managed to find its way back on board but every day that the cruise liners stay docked they lose millions of dollars so will they ever recover the answer seems to be yes most won't resume sailing until the summer postponing their initial plans to restart in the spring but buoyant share prices point towards optimism in the industry the people who love going on cruises tend to go year after year after year and i think those kinds of people as soon as they're allowed to get back on cruises they're going to jump out the opportunity to do so with covert restrictions in place the cost of a cruise vacation may well rise and companies are still debating whether vaccinations should be compulsory for all passengers and crew but it'll take more than a pandemic to keep cruise lovers on dry land and this loyalty is the industry's main hope of keeping afloat after a year that should have consigned it to the scrappy you

Channel: Business Insider

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Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, Cruise Ships, Cruiselines, Cruise, Cruise Industry, Cruises, Sea Travel

Id: U5Ncbs-bE8Q

Length: 9min 59sec (599 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 09 2021