中国：国际游轮巨头的新战场

    对嘉年华（Carnival）和皇家加勒比（Royal Caribbean）游轮公司而言，跨越七大洋来到中国看来是明智的决策。

    中产家庭对游轮这种度假方式的兴趣陡然上升，从而推动了中国市场的增长,两家行业龙头正在搭乘这班顺风车。周二，全球最大游轮运营商嘉年华游轮公司上调了今年的全球收入预期，因其中国市场的季度营收再次实现两位数增长，而且该公司预计“未来几年”这股势头将延续。

    嘉年华游轮总部设在迈阿密，公司的歌诗达（Costa）品牌于2006年进入中国市场，在华经营时间较短，去年扭亏为盈后，今年的发展形势更上一层楼。嘉年华正在全力开拓中国市场：5月份该公司表示，长期以来一直在地中海运营的歌诗达赛琳娜号（Costa Serena）将从明年开始常驻中国。嘉年华还把首席运营官办公室搬到上海，以便管理中国业务，为迎接市场井喷做好准备。

    与此同时，分析师更为看好的规模稍小的皇家加勒比正准备把其最新的游轮迁到上海，这艘可容纳4200名乘客的海洋量子号（Quantum of the Seas）将在纽约和加勒比海之间航行6个月（定于11月份首航），此后从明年春天开始常驻上海运营。

    与对中国市场的兴趣相伴的，是欧洲游轮市场的需求因经济长期低迷受到了抑制，而且人们对2012年的歌诗达协和号（Costa Concordia）游轮事故仍心有余悸（当时，嘉年华旗下的这艘游轮在意大利海岸触礁，造成32名乘客丧生）。与此同时，美国市场趋于成熟。游轮公司在欧美市场不得不通过降价来吸引消费者。

    中国在旅游方面的巨大潜力毋庸置疑：今年中国出境游人数将达到约1亿人。联合国世界旅游组织（United Nations World Tourism Organization）提供的数据显示，2012年，中国游客在境外的消费超过1000亿美元，2013年前9个月又增长了28%（尚无全年数据）。

    皇家加勒比首席运营官亚当•戈德斯坦最近接受《财富》杂志采访时表示：“中国市场规模庞大，但乘坐游轮的意识仍然极低，对游轮旅游的体验知之甚少。尽管中国目前在游轮领域的发展程度可能不高，但是我们已经制定了来年计划，包括把海洋量子号部署到上海,而在2012年的时候我们还没有这样的打算。”

    为进一步扩大业务，皇家加勒比最近和中国在线旅行服务商携程网（Ctrip）达成了协议，携程网是皇家加勒比在中国的最大销售商。按照协议条款，携程网收购了皇家加勒比的精致世纪号（Celebrity Century），并将运营这条翻新船。

    中国政府正在积极修建基础设施以方便大型游轮停泊，皇家加勒比和嘉年华双双对此表示赞赏。嘉年华首席执行官阿诺德•唐纳德表示：“我们预计，有朝一日中国将成为全球最大的游轮市场。”

    《财富》杂志撰稿人Mehboob Jeelani参与了本文的撰写。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    Sailing the seven seas to China is looking like a sound strategy for Carnival and Royal Caribbean .

    Both industry leaders are riding a wave of growth in China stemming from surging interest in cruising as a middle-class family vacation option: on Tuesday, Carnival, the world’s largest cruise operator, raised its global revenue forecast for the year in part because of another quarter of double-digit revenue growth in China, a trend it expects will continue for “the next few years.”

    Carnival started operating in China relatively recently, in 2006, with its Costa brand, and finally turned a profit last year, with things looking even better so far in 2014. And the Miami-based Carnival is going all in: in May, Carnival said it would deploy its Costa Serena, which has long cruised the Mediterranean, to China year-round beginning next year. It is also relocating its chief operating officer to Shanghai to oversee the business there and be ready for the boom.

    Meanwhile its smaller rival, Royal Caribbean, seen as the better positioned of the two for China by analysts,is set to redeploy its newest ship, the 4,200-passenger Quantum of the Seas, to Shanghai year-round starting in next spring after only six months cruising New York-Caribbean trips. (The Quantum is scheduled to debut in November.)

    The interest in China comes as European demand for cruising is pressured by a chronically weak economy and lingering memories of the 2012 Costa Concordia (a Carnival-operated ship) disaster, which killed 32 passengers when the ship ran aground off the Italian coasts, and as the U.S. market continues to mature. Cruise companies have had to lower prices to entice customers in such those markets.

    And there is no denying the enormous potential of Chinese tourism: some 100 million Chinese are set to travel abroad this year. In 2012, Chinese consumers spent more than $100 billion on travel abroad, with that growing 28% in the first 9 months of 2013 (full year data are not available yet), according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

    “For a market of that magnitude, there is still extremely little awareness of cruising and what the cruising experience is,” Adam Goldstein, Royal Caribbean’s operating chief, told Fortune in a recent interview. “While it (China) may not register too much on the Richter scale yet, the plans we plans we’ve made for next year—including bringing Quantum of the Seas to Shanghai—we weren’t thinking in those terms in 2012.”

    To further build up its business, Royal Caribbean recently struck a deal with Chinese online travel company Ctrip, which is the biggest seller of its cruises there: under terms of that deal, Royal Caribbean sold one its older ships, the Celebrity Century, to Ctrip and will manage the renovated vessel.

    Royal Caribbean and Carnival have both praised the Chinese government for being proactive about building out the infrastructure so that their large ships can dock there.

    “We expect China to someday be the largest cruise market in the world,” said Carnival CEO Arnold Donald.

    Fortune writer MehboobJeelani contributed to this article.