游轮巨头嘉年华、皇家加勒比加码豪赌中国市场

    让一让，迈阿密。上海来了。

    受中国游轮行业的爆炸式增长影响，全球两大游轮公司——皇家加勒比和嘉年华正在对中国业务成倍地加码。

    上周五，嘉年华提高了2015年利润预测，原因是游轮预定情况好于预期。该公司预计，2015年乘游轮出境的中国游客数量将首次达到100万人次，而该公司将为其中几乎一半的游客提供服务。

    和美国或欧洲相比，中国的游轮市场要小得多。但中国中产家庭对乘游轮度假的兴趣正在急剧上升，并且推动着整个行业的不断增长。

    嘉年华首席执行官阿诺德•唐纳德对华尔街分析师表示：“对游轮业来说，中国是下一个等待开发的关键市场，它成为世界上最大的游轮市场只是时间问题。”

    联合国世界旅游组织提供的数据显示，2014年中国的出境游客总数增长了10%左右，达到1.09亿人次；中国游客的境外支出也上升了约17%。同时，越来越多的中国游客开始选择乘坐游轮。2012-2014年，搭乘游轮旅游的中国游客数量增加了79%。

    目前，嘉年华在中国投放了四条游轮。该公司最近和招商局集团签署了备忘录，内容是设立两家合资公司，分别从事游轮码头建设和游轮制造。

    与此同时，皇家加勒比本周早些时候表示，从2016年4月份开始，该公司第三条量子级游轮（这种游轮拥有巨大的观光甲板等许多奢华设施）将以天津为母港，后者有1000万人口，距北京约100英里（约161公里）。这将是该公司投放中国市场的第五条游轮，也是第一条一下水就部署在中国的游轮。去年，皇家加勒比决定将可容纳4200名乘客的海洋量子号重新部署到上海。这是该公司的最新游轮，此前只在纽约-加勒比航线上航行过六个月，今后它将常驻上海。

    为了让更多中国游客登上自己的游轮，皇家加勒比正打算和中国旅行社合作。去年秋天，该公司和携程网达成协议，后者是皇家加勒比在中国的最大销售代理。

    中国政府正在和皇家加勒比及其竞争对手合作，而这需要增设基础设施，以便大型游轮停靠在中国的各个城市。为向中国政府表明自己计划不断在中国投资，皇家加勒比本周表示，该公司正着眼于在中国建立干船坞和物流中心，以便为自己部署在中国的游轮提供服务。同时，该公司正在考虑推出新旅游项目，目的是让数以千计的北美游客乘游轮来中国旅游。

    虽然中国仍是皇家加勒比的第三大市场，排在美国和欧洲之后，但该公司显然已将中国视为主要增长引擎。

    最近，皇家加勒比总裁兼CEO迈克尔•贝利在北京接受《华尔街日报》采访时表示：“中国市场的增长潜力超过美国。”（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    审校: 魏永丽

    Move over, Miami. Here comes Shanghai.

    Buoyed by the explosive growth of the cruise industry in China, the world’s two largest cruise operators, Royal Caribbean RCL 6.47% and Carnival CCL 6.08% are redoubling their presence there.

    Carnival, which on Friday raised its 2015 profit forecast on the strength of better than expected advance bookings, expects the overall number of outbound cruise passengers from China to hit the 1 million market for the first time in 2015, and serve almost half of those.

    China remains a much smaller market for the cruising industry than the United States or Europe, but interest in taking to the seas as a middle-class vacation option is surging in China, and buoying the whole industry.

    “China presents the next great frontier for cruising,” Carnival CEO Arnold Donald told Wall Street analysts. “It’s just a matter of time before China becomes the largest cruise market in the world.”

    According to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the total number of trips abroad by Chinese citizens rose about 10% to 109 million in 2014, with spending up about 17%. And more of that is going to cruises: the number of cruise passengers originating from China rose 79% between 2012 and 2014.

    Carnival currently has four ships based in China. The company recently signed a memorandum with state-owned China Merchants Group to look into forming two joint ventures that will build cruise ports and ships.

    Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean said earlier this week that Tianjin, a city of 10 million about 100 miles from Beijing, will be the new home for its third Quantum-class ship (those with the most bells and whistles like space observation decks) starting in April 2016. It will be the fifth China-based ship in the company’s fleet and its first to be based in China from the get-go. Last year, Royal Caribbean decided to redeploy its newest ship, the 4,200-passenger Quantum of the Seas, to Shanghai year-round as of this spring, after only six months cruising New York-Caribbean trips.

    To funnel more Chinese passengers to its ships, Royal Caribbean is looking for partnerships with local travel companies. In the fall, it struck a deal with Chinese online travel company Ctrip, which is the biggest seller of its cruises there.

    And to make it clear to the China government, whose cooperation Royal Caribbean and its rivals need to get more infrastructure that lets large ships dock in various cities, that its plans to keep investing in China. Royal Caribbean said this week it is looking into building Chinese dry dock facilities and developing logistics centers to supply its ships deployed in the region. It is also considering programs that would bring thousands of North American vacationers to visit China by cruising.

    While China is still Royal Caribbean’s No. 3 market, after the U.S. and Europe, it is clear executives see the Middle Kingdom as a major growth engine.

    “Potential growth here is greater than the U.S. market,” Michael Bayley, president and chief executive of Royal Caribbean’s international operations, told the Wall Street Journal in Beijing earlier this week.