Is the industry doing enough to attract the consumer of tomorrow?

‘I honestly think that various segments of our industry are very active in this area and in particular the mass market cruise lines who have been very efficient in attracting younger demographics and targeting multigenerational travel,’ says Barbara Muckermann, chief marketing officer at Silversea Cruises.

The cruise industry veteran goes on to say, ‘this is going to be key for the industry 15-20 years from now where the customers coming today with their parents will make their first vacation choices and they will clearly have cruising among their set of choices.’

William Harber, president of the Americas at Hurtigruten, on the other hand, feels the industry is not doing enough to attract new consumers: ‘we need to broaden our perspective beyond a handful of voices to attract the guests of tomorrow.’

Both Hurtigruten and Silversea are having success in attracting new guests in the expedition and luxury remote cruising sector. Muckermann points to Silversea’s Galapagos cruises, ‘where we attract a vast majority of new to cruising customers. At the end of the day 72% of our planet is covered by an ocean and this makes the cruise product very competitive versus land based operators and customers are noticing,’ she adds.

Hurtigruten delivers educational programs onboard to inform our guests of challenges of over-tourism and global climate change – aiming to make our guests “polar advocates” when they return home,’ notes Harber.

‘We’ve established the Hurtigruten Foundation to raise awareness and funds to preserve polar environments, ensuring our guests of tomorrow enjoy the same meaningful travel experiences as our guests of today.’

So who is the consumer of tomorrow? ‘They value learning, life experiences, and personal growth over excessive luxury,’ comments Harber. ‘These guests care about the environment and believe in leaving a smaller footprint when they travel. They seek interactions with nature and wildlife that’s bigger than themselves to put life into perspective.’

Muckermann sees growth in the next 15 years mostly coming from additional penetration in under-served markets such as Asia and Europe (mostly true for expedition and luxury segment), land based customers who recognize the value and convenience proposition of cruising and bucket list travelers who have seen it and want to travel to the polar regions and to pristine and authentic destinations such as Bangladesh or the Philippines.

Harber and Muckermann will be joined by Josh Leibowitz, svp Cunard North America & chief strategy officer at Carnival Corp and Paul Bennett from Context Travel at a Seatrade Cruise Global conference panel session: Getting Out of the Cruising Bubble and Attracting the Consumer of Tomorrow, taking place on March 6 between 1.00-2.00 and moderated by Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief, Cruise Critic.

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