AIDA's Eichhorn forecasts 3m German cruisers in 2020

'I’m convinced that the German cruise market can reach the figure of 3 million cruise passengers already in 2020. AIDA will be initiating a new burst of growth in the German cruise market with the commissioning of AIDAprima in 2016,' Eichhorn said.

He spoke at the publication launch of the CLIA Germany study, 'The Ocean Cruise Market in Germany 2015,' at ITB 2016 in Berlin.

In the coming years, AIDA—Germany’s leading cruise brand—will introduce four ships and double its capacity.

'Our focus is on attracting wholly new guest groups to enjoy vacations on board. When it comes to vacationing in Germany, we want to remain the first choice for cruises,' Eichhorn said. With a variety of offers and product innovations, cruising is an attractive alternative to land-based vacations, he added.

AIDA's 11th ship, AIDAprima, is scheduled to be named in Hamburg on May 7. AIDAperla will join the fleet in 2017. Two more newbuilds, to be fueled by LNG, are scheduled to enter service in 2019 and 2021.