Carnival UK’s chief executive David Dingle has defended Europe as a source market, saying it is “not a disaster for the cruise industry”.
Dingle was speaking at a Cruise Shipping Miami conference session earlier this week, as figures showed a fall in cruise passenger number for Italy and Spain reduced the overall level of growth across European source markets to 1%, or 6.1 million, in 2012.
“The bottom has not fallen out of the market”, Dingle was reported saying by Seatrade Insider. “The market has expanded so rapidly in recent years that it is more vulnerable to outside factors such as Costa Concordia, the Arab Spring and the economic crisis.
“It is also not just one market but a series of them so there will always be fluctuations between their performances.”
However, Dingle warned that new regulations on using the more expensive low sulphur fuel which will come into force in 2015 could see ships being switched away from northern Europe, according to Seatrade Insider.