U.S.-Based Cruise Lines Devoting Greater Marketing Efforts to Europe

U.S.-based cruise lines are devoting more and more of their marketing efforts to getting the attention – and euros – of travelers from Germany, the U.K., Spain and Italy. According to Travel Weekly, Holland America Line is taking steps to further penetrate the European market, which now accounts for about 5% of the line´s passengers.

David Giersdorf, Holland America´s executive vice president of sales and marketing, said he´d like to see it up to 20% of the total. "We´d have a nice balance in years where North American business was soft because of currency or big [capacity] increases, and we´d have that additional pool of demand," he said. "It´s important to not have all your eggs in one basket."

According to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the number of non-North American cruisers on CLIA-member lines jumped more than 50% from 2002 to 2003, to 1.52 million people. On Royal Caribbean Cruises´ European-based ships, 60% of the passengers are non-U.S. sourced, up from 40% before 9/11. World events had something to do with the changing mix, but the increase demonstrates the potential of the European market.

"Europe is the fastest-growing source of passengers to the major cruise operators," said Robin Farley, an analyst for UBS Investment Research, in a recent report. And many of those cruisers are gravitating to U.S. brands.