Frank A. Del Rio, who is president of the line his dad helped found more than 20 years ago, blamed “quasi-governmental organisations” for drawing up “misguided” frameworks which land cruises lines with huge tax bills.
He argued cruise lines’ efforts to reduce their carbon footprint are often ignored by governments who are desperate to “regulate our industry”.
“Right now, the big worry for this industry is the European-centric desire to heavily tax the shipping industry and the cruise industry,” Del Rio told TTG. “These quasi-governmental organisations come up with misguided frameworks – and that scares me.”
He said the cruise industry had had it “rough” in recent years due to being targeted by regulatory bodies so soon after the damaging impact of Covid. “The governments are finding ways to regulate our industry – cruise drives them mad,” he continued.
“Any opportunity to take a shot at us, they do. Too often our industry gets castigated – it feels like it’s us against the world.”
Del Rio argued politicians needed to remember the economic benefits cruise ships bring to coastal communities and the work cruise lines are putting in to decarbonise.
“The aviation industry is much bigger polluter than we are,” Del Rio noted.
Despite his comments, Del Rio, whose dad often cut an outspoken figure in his role as Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings boss, said he remained upbeat about the sector’s future.
“I’ve been in this business for a while, starting with 9/11 and then the 2007 financial crisis and then Covid,” he said, adding: “And I’ve not been this bullish about the industry before.”
But Del Rio stressed the importance to cruise companies of investing in modern technology to keep up with travel agencies.
“Cruise lines are not tech companies; investment in technology has often taken a back seat,” Del Rio explained. “I feel that if we use the available tech tools, we could blow the lid off this industry.
“We would be able to reach more people through regional marketing. Some of the agencies are perhaps more advanced than us. There needs to be a shift in the way cruise lines work with agents on marketing campaigns.”
