Page 11 - North American & Caribbean Cruise Traveller

Industry Insider:
North American & Caribbean Cruise Duty & Tax Free Retail 2015
1.3 INTRODUCTION
This report provides an overview of the cruise Travel Retail channel, focusing on sales of Duty and Tax Free goods to North American passengers cruising within the North American and Caribbean region.
The report evaluates the current state of the market, looking at both the supply side - the range of services being offered by Duty and Tax Free retailers both on-board the vessels and in port stores - and the demand side - evaluating the current level of awareness, usage and purchasing, and associated drivers and barriers among North American nationalities travelling on recreational sea cruises within the region North American & Caribbean region.
In this report, the cruise Duty and Tax Free offer refers to Duty and Tax Free items offered for sale by cruise or port operator and/or its concession-holding partners prior to, during, or after a cruise traveller’s journey. Products sold in convenience stores, such as newspapers, magazines and toiletries are excluded from this definition.
1.3.1 NORTH AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN CRUISES: MARKET BACKGROUND
Despite the regions proportion of global bed days having shown a slight decline in recent years, the North American & Caribbean region continues to be integral to the global cruise industry, accounting for over 40% of global cruise passenger capacity in 2014, of which the Caribbean alone accounted for 36% (Source: CLIA).
The prominence of the North American & Caribbean region within the global cruise industry is driven by several factors. The Caribbean in particular is abundant with small, picturesque locations, such as Barbados, the Virgin Islands and Jamaica, but potentially more importantly, the North American & Caribbean region is the domestic region for the cruise industry largest passenger source; the United States.
However, the size of the market and available passenger capacity has led to a highly competitive marketplace; for example, as this section is being written there are approximately 65 cruise liners deployed within the North American & Caribbean region. With this
The North American & Caribbean region remains integral to the global cruise industry
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