The India cruise market is estimated at 100,000 guests per annum and is expected to grow to about three lakhs in the next five years as cruise ships become more accessible and packages become affordable to customers, said Gavin Smith, Regional Vice President – Asia Pacific, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and added that the growth will mainly be driven by short-haul. According to him, India continues to be a market of enormous interest to Royal Caribbean as the market enjoys a large, educated and urbanised population who has a zest for travel. Hence, Royal Caribbean is working towards widening its customer base in India by tapping into the family segment, with cheaper, short-haul itineraries.
“We want to be the number one cruise line in India. We will launch products for the family market and this segment will become the nursery for future growth,” he said. Smith sees great growth potential in India. “The Indian upper middle class has great travel aspirations and the segment which travels abroad for holidays are now also considering cruising as an option. This is why all cruise liners are present in India,” he added. Royal Caribbean has around 15 per cent market share in India.
When asked about the trends in Indian travellers, he said that Indians generally travel to North American and Europe for cruise vacation. “We need to improve the accessibility of cruise ships to the Indian market. At present, most Indians travel to US and Europe to avail cruise vacations, which becomes a costly affair due to airfares. If we offer them access to cruises through nearby ports, we will have more Indian cruise vacationers,” he said and added that Royal Caribbean is the largest cruise liners in Asia Pacific and majority of our activities are from Singapore. “The Singapore cruise program is by far the most relevant for the India cruise market,” he added.
Replying to a question over India having such a vast coastline, yet a cruise industry in its nascent stage, he said the most significant influence over the growth of the cruise market in India will be if a cruise ship is deployed locally from an Indian port. “A locally based cruise ship removes the need for expensive overseas air travel to connect with a cruise holiday and exposes more families to the joys and wonders of cruising. In order for such a deployment to take place, local port infrastructure needs to be developed for the cruise industry to conduct its shore side responsibilities efficiently within a low cost, dedicated facility,” he opined.
Royal Caribbean has been operating in India for the past 21 years through a tie-up with Tirun Marketing. “With the world’s best cruise ships, we will continue to promote high value offerings, and increase relevance amongst the India cruise market through active participation with our local distribution partner, Tirun Travel Marketing,” he added.
