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NORWEGIAN Cruise Line is seeing exceptionally strong growth from the Australian market, according to the company’s international sales director Francis Riley. Speaking at an event in Sydney yesterday, Riley, who’s making his first trip down under since 2010, said the local market had grown by 50% annually over the last three years, with the Norwegian “freestyle cruising” product particularly appealing to first time cruisers. Hawaii is the major destination for Australians on Norwegian, where the company is the only international operator to use a US-flagged ship enabling it to offer exclusive inter-island itineraries. But there’s also strong demand from Australians for Norwegian cruises in Europe, Riley said. The strength of the business is evidenced in new Norwegian ships currently under construction, with Breakaway and Getaway to debut in 2013/14 – and potentially providing scope for the cruise line to position a vessel in Australian waters (see today’s Cruise Weekly for details). Questioned about the impact of the Costa Concordia catastrophe on Norwegian bookings, Riley’s pithy summation was that “it didn’t help”. “The biggest damage was in the market of those who are new to cruising, many of whom we believe have deferred or abandoned their decision to cruise this year,” he said. While bookings from Europe were particularly hit, the Australian market has shown exceptional resilience, according to regional vice president Nicole Costantin. The Norwegian Cruise Line team – heading this weekend to the Cruiseco conference in Port Douglas – are pictured above at a Sydney event, from left: Braydon Holland, Nicole Costantin, Brigita Devries and Francis Riley. |
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