A 200 million euro plan for the restyling of four ships. They call it the "Renaissance" program and it was announced today by MSC Cruises that it will complete the operation thanks to the insurance-financial support of Sace, a group controlled by the CDP which supports Italian companies active abroad. The works, to be completed by 2015, have been entrusted to Fincantieri.
The plan envisages renovating the spaces and technology of the four Lirica-class MSC ships, each of which will house around 200 more cabins. “All within a very short time frame – explained Gianni Onorato, CEO of MSC – around nine weeks for each ship. It is not a detail, because in our sector every day more involves additional costs for hundreds of thousands of euros”.
According to data provided by Sace, the cruise industry has grown steadily in the last decade on a global level, and will maintain a growth rate of 5% in the coming years, despite the economic difficulties. Indeed, according to recent surveys by Morgan Stanley, the sector is one of the least vulnerable in times of consumption restriction.
“Italy, with a 20% share, represents our main market – continued Onorato -. The crisis was felt, but the results obtained in other countries allowed us to offset the profitability. In any case, even if the Italian tourism market has recorded a drop of 15%, cruises are resisting the crisis much better and indeed continue to grow. We are convinced that 2014 will be even better than 2013”.
The global cruise business currently has 282 ships and in recent years most investments have moved from the standard/economy segment to the Plus/delux segment. North America continues to represent 55-60% of the market, followed by Europe (30-35%) and emerging Asian and Latin American countries (10-15%). In 2012 there were about 12 million cruise passengers from North America, against six million from Europe and three million from South America or Asia. A volume that should increase by 3-5% annually in the next few years.
MSC aims “to grow in Europe, where the number of people going on cruises is still significantly lower than in North America – Onorato specified again -. However, we are also focusing heavily on emerging countries such as Turkey and Russia, two markets that are becoming increasingly important over the years".
To grow, of course, it is necessary to invest and improve services. In the world of cruises, fixed costs are so high that they can only be met in one way: not by raising fares, but by bringing more and more people on board. And this obligatory road has ensured that various categories of consumers have chosen a cruise holiday precisely because they are driven by the crisis.
