CLIA Australasia Chairman Peter Little says the arrival of luxury hotel brands in the cruise arena will only complement the sector, despite most carrying greater brand recognition and backed by enormous loyalty programs.
Speaking during the ‘Future of Cruise’ panel at Travel24 in Sydney yesterday, Little said there was more than enough room for Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, Four Seasons Yachts and Aman At Sea.
“The cruise industry is not competing against one another – the cruise industry is competing against land based holidays.”
Little said there was more than enough room to grow within the cruise industry, but the sector had to take some share away from land-based holidays.
His comments were echoed by Silversea Managing Director Australia, Adam Radwanski, who said the line kept a close eye on emerging brands in luxury spaces.
“You have to look at them from a capacity standpoint, with two or three tiny ships versus an established brand like Silversea.
“We watch, we learn and we innovate and competition propels us to do so,” Radwanski added.
Like the hotel brands though, all CLIA cruise lines were at the forefront of technology and innovation in modern ship design, working to reduce the industry’s environmental footprint.
“We are continually as an industry investing in new technologies to manage propulsion systems, to manage air conditioning systems, to manage our itineraries,” he said.
“We have software now that makes sure we go in the absolute most efficient way from A to B to reduce carbon footprint.
