Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd’s Stuart Leven said he believed that despite currency valuations being “a bit variable” since Britain voted to leave the European Union last year there was still consumer confidence for purchasing cruise holidays.
“One of the things we need to realise is every single person in this room is going to be selling cruises and holidays from beyond the date on which we’re leaving [the EU], so yeah I think [Brexit affecting currency] it’s going to be a small impact…I don’t think it’s something that is going to stop growth,” he told delegates at the 2017 Clia Cruise Forum.
Leven, who took over as Clia chair from Lynn Narraway, UK managing director of Holland America Line and Seabourn this year, admitted that the industry may potentially have to contend with “a few small costs” such as visas depending on future agreements between the UK and the EU. But he maintained: “I personally feel like we are through the worst of it”.
Looking ahead to 2019 and beyond, Leven said that although it was difficult to quantify at the moment, he believed that judging from cruise lines’ annual reports and industry forecasts, it “instinctively feels like the positivity [in the market] is continuing”.
“It is rare that you have all segments of an industry working together. We eat up adversity and we just blast through it,” he added.
When asked if more capacity into the cruise market could create pricing pressures Leven admitted that educating the trade would be important with an influx of new vessels being launched in the next few years.
“If you build a shiny, new ship you do not want to sell a cabin for £299…so there is an education piece to do there,” he explained.
Leven also told delegates that growth enjoyed by the cruise sector had been helped “due to people being forced to try cruise for the first time” due to geopolitical issues and security concerns in destinations such as Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey.
“You have seen a lot of air capacity going into other areas in Europe and beds drying up and it’s not just in the UK market but the general market,” he said. “So I think at a time when there have been less holidays it’s a good time for the cruise industry’s growth.”
