Industry Impact

As to the industry impact of Cruise ships, there are mainly three aspects :

• How the cruise industry affects the local tourism on the transit port(s)
• What are the benefits and constraints to the cruise travelers
• How the current environment and trend affects the cruise industry and how the cruise industry adapts for these impacts

The local tourism of the transit ports can be benefited from the cruise ships passing by. Some of the cruise travelers will buy services or products from the locals, for example, some of them may buy souvenirs from the locals while others may enjoy the local food on port. Besides, if the cruise travelers have great experience on the local transit port, they may share their experience through social media, or simply by talking with their friends or relatives , which can help the local tourism attract more travelers in future, and thus boost their tourism income.

Nevertheless, there may also be a negative impact on the local tourism of transit ports passed by the cruise lines. During the traveling process , some of the tourists may produce rubbish, noise and definitely make the local place more crowded , which can be a population to the local environment. Besides, culture shock may also happen when the cruise passengers travel to the transit ports. For example, in middle east region, the locals may dislike tourists who have sexy clothing. And so, either the pollution due to cruise tourists or culture shock can also bring a negative impression to the local people.

Apart from the impact on the local tourism and people by cruise industry, we also concern how the cruise guests are benefited from and constrained by the cruise services. One of the greatest benefit the cruise guests can have is that they can widen their horizons to the world with an enjoyable experience, for example, they can travel to different transit ports, and experience the local culture and scenes, or even making friends to local people if they can. Also, cruise travelers can meet and make friends with other guests on the same cruise from all over the world, and so they can learn more about the culture, political and economical environment of different countries, within a short yet enjoyable time.

Cruise guests can also have a great experience within the cruise since most cruise ships have brilliant decorations and facilities, and also provide enjoyable activities such as music band show and other social activities for guests to participate. For example, cruise guests can enjoy a world-class dinner in a grand dinning room, with their family, friends and other people around the world, while listening to the musical band show provided by the cruise line. And some cruise lines may provide social activities for guests to join, so that the guests can meet new friends from all over the world, such as social dancing, board games, etc.

However, time can be a major constraint of cruise industry on guests. As the travelling speed of cruise ships is much slower than aircraft, yet the traveling distance of cruises can be very long ,especially for those which pass by many transit ports, so the guests may need to spend a longer time for cruise traveling, some cruise guests may even need to spend 30 days for their travel. Yet many of the guests still need to work, so they need to stop their work for a while for their vacation holiday on cruise traveling around the world. Unlike traveling by aircraft which can shorten the traveling time, for example, some Hong Kong travelers can travel to and back from Taiwan for 3 days by aircraft.

As to the current environment and trend which bring an impact on cruise industry, the government of some transit ports may tighten the regulations on local tourism and environment, for example, tourist entrance may not be allowed at certain time due to the regulation on noise generated by tourists. In order to adapt for these potential regulations , cruise lines should do a research on the local regulations first, before allowing their guests to visit the transit ports , for example, if a transit port has a strict regulation on noise after 9pm, the cruise agent should not allow their guests to visit the port after 9pm. Also, in order to solve the problem of culture shock, cruise agent should also research on the local culture of transit ports first, for example, if the locals of a transit port do not welcome tourists who have sex clothing, then the cruise agent has the responsibility to remind their guests not to wear sexy clothes during the traveling on the port.