Increasing in demands and strong competition require the cruise industry to find innovative solution

Under the atmosphere of global economy recovery, the demand of booking cruise vacations is increasing. Compared to 2013, there were 400 thousand more customers choosing cruise lines based on the data collecting from the Cruise Lines International Association. In order to satisfy more customer, these cruise line companies react by investing in new vessels, improving existed services and exploiting new ones. However, they now meet two big challenges under innovating their services.

The first challenge is that they have to develop technology to reduce operation cost, decrease air & ocean pollution, and energy-use efficiency. Some companies, such as Carnival Cruise Lines, install shore power equipment to reduce air pollution, which help the company save $100,000 every year for each line. Besides, solar panels installations are also applied by Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean to replace part of fuel and build “green” cruise.

The second challenge is to provide high quality service and increase efficiency by updating and installing innovation fertilities. Several technology has been adopted by the cruise lines to deal with this challenge:

Technology Function

Share Recognition Cameras Calculate and analyze the dinning queues.

Facial recognition technology Search and make personal photo albums

Royal Connect Smart Phones and Wristbands Help parents take care their children

Guest Kiosks Read emails or calendars and make reservations

The third challenge is to satisfy the new generation travelers which is also the new customer segments for the cruise line industry. It requires these cruise line companies to design special events, activities and cooperate with other companies to attract this group, such as Aqua Expeditions’ soccer games, Disney Cruise Lines’ “Virtual Portholes”.

Not only these challenges, but also strong competition among this industry requires cruise lines to innovate proactively to catch the increasing demand trend. Besides, the change of generation brings new opportunities for new cruise companies to enter into the market and find their positions.

Sources:

https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/innovation%2C-technology%2C-and-competition-in-the-cruise-industry-51085