According to Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO Richard Fain, speaking on the company’s third-quarter earnings call, two key markets for Royal Caribbean Group should be coming back in 2022, that is Australia and China.
According to the Cruise Industry News report, regarding Australia, Fain was bullish on the progress the country has been making with vaccinating its population, but as the country is a seasonal market, he noted that ships would most likely be back in time for the 2022-2023 season.
He added, “Australia’s approach to containing the pandemic has been based on isolation”, and “They are now rapidly switching to the vaccines as a way of controlling the disease.”
He siad, “We do not expect Australia to open to cruise travel until the spring [northern hemisphere],” Fain said, adding, “But since the summer season doesn’t start until our [northern hemisphere] winter, anyhow, we’re not counting on much from Australia until the end of next year.”
He expects China to open to cruising following the Beijing Olympics, which are set to conclude in late February 2022, pointing to a potential first-quarter restart in China for the Spectrum of the Seas.
Fain said, “China is essentially closed to international travel today and that includes cruise travel. We do not expect China to reopen until at least the Olympics in Beijing are over.”
John Alwyn-Jones, Cruise Editor
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