The Cruise & Tourism market has changed
The new start in tourism will bring us guests from all over the world again, but they often come from other areas of the world, have changed their travel habits, are often still hesitant to come and some are not yet coming at all. Who can we count on?
China, with millions of tourists every year, has only reopened 20 countries to its citizens and will soon be at the forefront of tourist numbers again. Some countries will not benefit from this so quickly because, like Germany, they are not yet welcoming the Chinese.
"Unlike many other countries, Germany has not yet lifted the corona entry restrictions for Chinese tourists.
Accordingly, there is currently no advertising for trips to Germany. Switzerland and Austria are on offer, as are France, Italy and Great Britain.
CITS is currently actively promoting a country that did not play a major role in Chinese travel dreams in previous years, but which is one of the friends of China in Beijing propaganda: Russia.”
ZDF 04/10/2023
Cruises are back
When it comes to cruises, whether river or high seas, the Americans are back as the most important target group and the European guests are almost at the pre-Corona level. The Chinese are still missing here, as is the Indian market, which has been growing in recent years, as well as the Japanese, who are still very afraid of traveling in the post-pandemic world. The not very large number of South Americans are not back yet and are missing because they were very solvent. In the long term we will probably have to do without Russian tourists, the number of which has increased more and more in recent years.
Australia is a market that is recovering very slowly. In terms of numbers, it is not a very large market, but it is an important market because Australians like to stay longer in Europe and are therefore very interesting for hotels, restaurants and cruises.
The British are struggling with very strong inflation, which of course also affects tourism because there are no bookings. Switzerland felt this very badly last winter, as it was a popular ski destination for the British market.
Singapore, Dubai will certainly benefit from having invested in infrastructure, resorts, top hotels and restaurants for a long time, thus being a magnet for those who will not book long haul when short haul offers the same luxury. Local tourism will be very important in the next few years. River cruising in Europe will hopefully hold the American market, slowly expanding the Asian one, but should spoil the European market.
The market and travel behavior are of course changing and so the hotel and cruise companies will also have to adapt, which will of course be an interesting task due to rising energy prices, inflation and the many travel restrictions (now also due to sanctions), since guests are now paying more - they also expect more. The shortage of staff and the associated higher wage costs will not make it easy to deliver the service.
Stephan Busch has an invaluable and diverse experience in the hospitality industry ranging from senior management positions with the most renowned hotel and resort companies to the project development - launch of operations, business development- for hotel and cruise companies in Asia, Europe, Canada and Russia.
His expertise includes not only planning, opening and operating of hotels, international golf clubs, airports, resorts and cruise ships, but also successful restructuring and repositioning of businesses during the financial crisis in Asia.
Stephan Busch earned his Master Certificate in Hospitality Management from Cornell University, USA and served many years as Academic Director / Faculty of Hospitality & Tourism at the State University for Humanities RGGU as well as the Swiss International University