Page 33 - North American & Caribbean Cruise Traveller

Industry Insider:
North American & Caribbean Cruise Duty & Tax Free Retail 2015
3 PRE-TRIP BEHAVIOUR
Our research indicates that a very high proportion of North American & Caribbean cruise travellers researched their trip prior to travel with cruise line websites being a key source of information, especially amongst older travellers. Clear differences by age are also noted for the aspects of the trip researched in advance, with younger travellers being more likely to research facilities such as swimming pools, entertainment, nightlife and on-board shopping. Younger travellers are also more likely to book online through a package booking website, while older travellers prefer to book through the cruise or tour operators.
A high proportion of cruise passengers travel internationally to reach their departure port and are therefore exposed to Travel Retail channels both before and after their cruise. Many of these go on to purchase, most often in the same categories purchased on-board or in port, illustrating how the cruise channel is in direct competition with other Travel Retail offerings and must therefore either offer a point of differentiation and/or increased competitiveness.
3.1 PRE-TRIP RESEARCH & BOOKING
The vast majority of North American & Caribbean cruise travellers research their trip prior to travel (93%). Of those researching their trip, 81% conducted their research online; 56% used offline methods of researching their cruise. Key online sources of information include reviews or posts by other users, or information provided by independent review organisations, and whilst the majority of online sources are significantly more likely to be looked at by younger travellers, information provided by cruise line owners / operators, is important to around half of travellers in both age ranges.
Table 2: Online Information Used to Research Cruise by Age Group
Base: Online researchers: Younger (292); Older (368); Total (660)
Information Researched
<40’s
>40’s
Total
Reviews / post by other users in general
57%
49%
52%
Information provided by independent review organisations (e.g. TripAdvisor, Michelin etc.)
57%
47%
51%
Information provided by the owners / operators
50%
48%
49%
Review / post from well-known people / experts / celebrities
43%
16%
28%
Information from official / government sources
37%
13%
24%
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