Eye on Tourism
Cruising Hits New Heights Ben Bouldin, Royal Caribbean’s UK & Ireland Director, talks to Richard Buckley about a buoyant cruise industry and how his company is shaping up for a fast-growth future...
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en Bouldin has plenty of statistics at his fingertips about the size and scale of Royal Caribbean, and the even bigger scale of the global cruise industry. For example, well over 100 brand new cruise ships worth close to $60 billion are scheduled to be built and delivered between now and 2026. Royal Caribbean, for its part, has 10 new vessels on order. And those new ships, along with the existing fleet, will help fuel the 63% growth that the company is confidently predicting for the next five years or so. “So if the cruise industry takes a sudden slowdown for any reason, there will be lot of free ships out there,” he jokes. “But that’s not going to happen. The growth we’ve been seeing is very
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steady and it’s sustainable.” Bouldin is a regular visitor to Northern Ireland. It’s a place that’s home to a large and loyal Royal Caribbean customer base, many of them regular cruisers and members of the cruise line’s Crown & Anchor loyalty club. “Northern Ireland is a very strong market for us, and it’s a little different in that a high proportion of cruisers (90% of them) book their holidays through one or other of the very strong travel agencies based here who specialise in cruising.” Royal Caribbean offers cruise holidays worldwide, but most customers (about 60% of them) from Northern Ireland cruise first from the port of Barcelona in Spain, a couple of hours flying time from Belfast. From there they
Ben Bouldin, UK & Ireland Director, Royal Caribbean
can progress to the Caribbean and other destinations for their cruise holidays. And, according to Ben Bouldin’s statistics, a healthy 50% become repeat customers. “It’s a relatively small market but it’s one that grew by 61% from last year to this year, helped by some excellent travel agents
and also helped by the arrival in the Mediterranean of the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s brand new Symphony Of The Seas. It’s spending its maiden season cruising the Med from Barcelona... and plenty of Northern Ireland passengers are flying south to join it.”
