Telling 1,000 travel advisors that the cruise industry’s global economic impact is more than $160 billion and represents 1.6 million jobs worldwide, Bud Darr, president and CEO, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), kicked off the first General Session of the annual Cruise360 conference in South Florida on Wednesday. Within the U.S. alone, those numbers are $65 billion in economic impact, 290,000 jobs and $25 billion in direct wages.
But while the numbers matter, so does something else. Entering the stage to the song “Let’s Dance,” Darr said that while he loves music, “I didn’t just pick that song because it’s a 40-year masterpiece. It speaks for collaboration. It just stands for what you can do when people work together instead of independently.” He was referring to the combined talents of David Bowie, Nile Rodgers and Stevie Ray Vaughan in creating that song.
Following Darr’s recent return to CLIA, one of his core focuses is “to work collaboratively and unify.” Inside CLIA, collaboration is imperative as "we’re a global organization," he says. "We should act like it. We should look like it. We should represent all of you. We should help all of you in a global manner.”
Externally, too, “CLIA must work toward integrating our entire community together, not simply travel advisors but also shipbuilders, suppliers, service providers, ports and destinations and the other trade associations,” Darr stressed. So, as he had imparted earlier this month at Seatrade Cruise Global, CLIA will work more closely with the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association.
Collaboration Potential With ASTA
At Cruise360, Darr also stressed the need for more collaboration with the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA). “I really see a lot of potential synergy there. I’m about to become an ASTA member myself and I really think that there’s a lot of work that we can do together to help all of you (the advisors) have your businesses be more successful.”
Explaining that 72 percent of all cruise line bookings are made by travel advisors, a number that's remained relatively stable through the years, Darr expressed his deep respect for the travel advisor community and the value that advisors add. Using a travel advisor versus doing-it-yourself "makes perfect, logical sense to me,” he added.
Yes, people often ask him, “What’s the best cruise?" But he told the Cruise360 audience that "you all know that’s an unanswerable question, without more questions being asked and answered.” Matching the customer and his or her needs with the right product is critical, something advisors excel at. “I don’t know that an algorithm could ever replace that," Darr said. "I don’t think a user interface on a computer platform on its own could ever replace that.”
Advisors are "by far the number-one distribution channel for the cruise lines," he said, so "the 67,000-plus of you that are members of our organization are going to get the kind of professional support that you need from us." Again, he also brought collaboration into that equation, saying: "We are going to help move together as a group—not just the travel advisors, not just the cruise lines, not anything in between, but if we all move together, we can all be successful together because interdependency is pretty clear no matter where on the spectrum you lie."
One concrete result of collaboration is this: Research also shows that CLIA’s travel advisor members who’ve completed the association’s advanced certification program “can sell up to 350 percent of the volumes of those who haven’t gone through those advanced certifications,” he said. “That’s an indicator to us that we’re helping you help your businesses.”
50 Years and Counting
Telling the Cruise360 audience that “it’s our 50th birthday for the organization and that’s fantastic,” Darr talked briefly about the past. Prior to 2006, CLIA was a separate organization from the International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL) but following a merger of the two, CLIA "now has more capability," Darr pointed out. "It has a bigger footprint. And it has a much more robust North American travel trade program than in the past.”
Darr promised that CLIA will continue to provide North American advisors with tools and training, such as at an upcoming Galveston, TX, event. Also during the first General Session, Charles Sylvia, CLIA's vice president, industry and trade relations, unveiled a glimpse of CLIA's new "Cruise Actually" campaign.
Beyond North America, CLIA now has about 10,000 advisor members in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 6,500 in Australia, and “Brazil just held their first ever event that brought travel agents together,” said Darr. “It was remarkably successful," a good indicator of potential membership growth there.
Key Highlights
This year, some 37 million consumers will travel on cruise ships. That will rise to rise to 42 million in 2028, reflecting 714,000 lower berths. One reason is that 80 percent of people who’ve cruised say they’ll cruise again. Millennials are the most enthusiastic and 36 percent of cruisers are under the age of 40, which Darr calls a “really great sign for the future.”
Front-of-house choices abound for consumers in terms of a wide range of ship services and vacation features. Back-of-house, on the environmental side, Darr said every next generation of ship is an estimated 20 percent more energy efficient than what it was designed to replace. While "the most effective method to keep from polluting is not to consume the fuel at all,” he added, "every ton of fuel we don’t burn is 3.1 or 3.2 tons of carbon in the atmosphere that doesn’t exist.” That's a reference to greater use of shore power when ships are in port, cleaner fuels such as LNG, and more advanced onboard technology.
The current cruise industry orderbook is 77 ships, which Darr described as a sign of “great optimism, not just by the cruise lines but by the finance community and the investment community." CLIA's research shows that one third of cruisers have taken their first cruise in the past two years, plus 70 percent of those who’ve never cruised would also consider doing so, signaling “great untapped potential,” said Darr. “I really think it’s a Golden Age with the best days yet to come.”
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