Marketing Management of Cruise Line Travel Market - Case Study Example

Marketing Report on Carnival Cruise Line Table of Contents Introduction 4 Situational Analysis 8 Market Summary 9 Market Demographics 9 Geographics 10 Demographics 10 Market Needs 10 Market Trends 11 Market Growth 11 SWOT Analysis 11 Strengths 11 Weaknesses 12 Opportunities 12 Threats 12 Rivalry amongst competitors 13 Product Offering 13 Marketing Mix 14 Product 14 Price 15 Promotions 15 Place 16 Marketing Strategy 16 Positioning 16 Strategies 17 Marketing Program 17 Marketing Research 18 Conclusion 18 References 19 Introduction Carnival is the worlds greatest and most prominent cruise line. They have 24 boats with an assortment of luxury trips and cruises that last from 3-18 days. Carnival cruise line is proud of the fact that they have a "wide cluster of luxurious cruises" with the guarantee of conveying paramount excursions for their visitors. Truth be told, their mission "is to take the world out of town and convey outstanding encounters through a significant number of the worlds best-known cruise marks that indulge a mixed bag of diverse geographic areas and lifestyles, all at an exceptional worth unrivalled ashore or at sea."(Carnival Corporation, 2014) carnival has five separate subsidiaries. Notwithstanding the guardian name, they are Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, and Seabourn. The Cruise line travel market is huge and extensive. There are a few diverse cruise lines, for example, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and many more. These organizations are every worth a large number of dollars and consistently they battle with one another for the business of many willing vacationers. There are a few boundaries to section into this market, for example, brand faithfulness and value control. The huge obstruction for most new cruise lines is brand faithfulness. Typically all off the vacationers that go on a cruise return blissful which has a tendency to causes most to retreat to the same cruise line for a comparable experience. It is exceptionally troublesome for cruise lines to take clients from one another thusly the most attention is put on the recruitment of first time cruisers. These amateurs have a tendency to run with organizations that have a great convention and notoriety. This reasons new cruise lines to have a great deal more inconvenience in the recruitment process. The achievement of these bigger and more prosperous cruise lines permits them to direct and control the costs on the market. Some new cruise lines, for example, Disney, have been fruitful. This is expected to some extent to the notoriety they recently have as one of the worlds best vacation destinations. All things considered, it is exceptionally troublesome to enter into the market of cruise lines. Most of the employees working in Carnival Cruise line are not from United States of America. The more excellent bit of the specialists starts from the ranges in which the boat is voyaging. This permits Carnival to contract unemployed individuals from these regions. There isnt much rivalry for these employments on the grounds that most pay least wage, for example, house keeper and janitors. The main thing that truly manages the wages for more gifted labourers, for example, architects, is the opposition between the singular cruise lines. There are a few regulations set on the Carnival cruise lines. The principle regulation is wellbeing. Each one boat is obliged to have enough rafts and life coats for each and every individual ready for. Disappointment to meet this regulation will quickly close down the boat. Next the boat itself must pass all regulations with respect to is execution and upkeep. Each person that is going done and finished with nation on a cruise must have a travel permit or visa as legitimate distinguishing proof. Disappointment to take after this regulation is a matter of national security and turns into an elected offense. Additionally, the serving of liquor on the boat is viewed as the same as in the U.s. which implies if discovered offering to a minor the cruise line might be subject. These regulations dont positively influence request, supply or rivalry essentially on the grounds that they apply to all cruise lines. In spite of the fact that Royal Caribbean does, when in worldwide waters, offer liquor to people who are the age of 18. This may expand their interest with regards to school scholars who are unable to drink legitimately in the states. These learners may discover Royal Caribbean more fascinating than Carnival due to their liquor standards. Carnival has done exceptionally well for itself since its starting in 1972. By 1987, Carnival was overall situated inside the cruise business and was known as The Worlds Most Popular Cruise Line".("carnival Corporation,") Due to its developing positive notoriety, the organization made a first sale of stock of 20% of normal stock which gave the money to development of the organization and they have kept on growing to where they are today. On 13 January 2012, the cruise ship Costa Concordia (which is worked by Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival) was included in a real mischance when it ran ashore and struck a rough reef and moved on its side. This brought about the boat to sink and brought about the shocking disaster of 32 lives lost. The beginning response of the episode created the stock to drop 14% and eventually take Carnival $100 million. This created an expansive influence all around the business and brought about shares of different organizations to fall also. In the end, it was found that the explanation behind the mishap was human failure. After the examination was finished, it was accounted for by the Associated Press that hints of cocaine had been found in the skippers hair tests. Additionally, he had not taken after oceanic laws. Specifically, he had controlled the vessel excessively near the shore and after that left the boat before the individuals installed had been cleared. While this catastrophe influences Carnival all the more, again there was a gradually expanding influence all around the business. The mischance happened throughout the start of the booking season where the business ordinarily joins a large portion of their reservations for the whole year. Furthermore, 2011 was a slow season for the business because of high fuel costs and a moderate worldwide economy. (Mouawad, 2012) Unfortunately, Carnivals terrible press didnt stop there. In February 2013, the Carnival Triumph endured a flame in one of its motor rooms. While the blaze was quenched, the harm from it created a misfortune of force and drive. This left the boat stranded and unfastened 150 miles off the bank of Mexico. The boat was at long last towed home and arrived at the United States 5 days after the occurrence. The misfortune of force from the blaze made enormous issues for the boat. As there was no force, there was no aerating and cooling so travelers needed to rest in the corridors and on deck to adapt. Additionally, the toilets quit working and human waste spilled out onto the floors and into paths which cause unsanitary conditions for the travelers. They were compelled to utilize plastic sacks to gather their waste after this. It was accounted for by travelers that there were long lines for sustenance and deficiencies of crisp water too. "Traveler Cassie Terry depicted the boat as "a coasting can, a drifting Petri dish, a gliding heck" in a claim documented Friday against Carnival for unspecified harms identified with the cruise."(candiotti & Levitt, 2013) While nobody was harmed, this was significant new and a great deal of negative press for the organization. Carnival discounted each travelers ticket, $500, a free flight home, and obviously credit for an alternate cruise. It is still indistinct regarding what the last monetary effect will be to the cruise line as a result of this episode. These two episodes have brought on a great deal of investigation for Carnival and for the business overall. Regarding the accident episode, individuals are pondering about the dependability and morals of Carnivals workers. Was this a segregated episode or is this the standard that once ought to figure out how to acknowledge? as to the Triumph being stranded, it was resolved that the boat was long past due for support. This has brought about people to address where the organizations intentions lie. Are they more intrigued by profiting to the point where wellbeing of their travelers is put at danger or again was this an innocent misstep. Based on these two and numerous different occurrences becoming exposed are bringing about shoppers and commentators to ask the same inquiry: Is it sheltered to take a get-away on Carnival Cruise lines? Carnival needs another marketing arrangement with an accentuation on wellbeing to guarantee they can pull in new clients as well as keep the rehash clients additionally. The center of this marketing arrangement will be to repair Carnivals brand picture by highlighting that their cruise boats are indeed protected and that clients just need to concentrate on having a remarkable experience. Situational Analysis Carnival is stating that all the episodes are misrepresented however it doesnt give the idea that way. After the Triumph was docked for repairs, solid winds brought on the boat to be torn from its moorings and it collided with a freight boat and after that floated detached for a couple of hours after that. Then in March, an alternate Carnival ship, the Dream had specialized issues that brought about the organization needing to book private contracts and business flights once more to the US for 4,300 travelers. There were reports that two other Carnival boats endured "specialized issues" in the same time allotment. Fortunately, there werent any fatalities in these occurrences yet they have surely caught their opens consideration and started their creative ability regarding whether these cruises are protected. If you ask the business however, they dont appear to be concerned and are anticipating more business in the approaching year disregarding these occurrences. truth be told, they say that contrasted with planes and autos, cruise boats are the most secure mode of travel. This is deceiving however as they are just concentrating on passings from mischances. That doesnt essentially imply that they are sheltered. Fortunately however, the organization is doing alright at this moment. They have brought to the table soak rebates to keep their boats completely busy yet have included expenses and expanded charges for additional items to make up for the misfortunes. It is accounted for that the organization will feel the effect of these occurrences later in the not so distant future. The reason is that individuals that busy their get-aways promptly in the prior year these episodes and cant drop them without losing their cash. However, Carnivals stock costs have fallen and economists dont want they will do also not long from now. Now in spite of profound rebates, progressed bookings for Carnival Cruises have fallen fundamentally behind 2012s numbers. Carnival is as of now being opposing about the occurrences however. While they have reported that they are inspecting the issues, it is clear they have done next to no to relieve their customers other than offering rebates. The organization needs to quit being guarding, address the issue close by so they can refocus their cliental on what they guaranteed an extraordinary excursion. (Johanson, 2013) Market Summary Carnival has a long history with their clients and comprehends what they need regarding a get-away. They realize that most of the travelers cruising are content with the administrations rendered. Their fundamental target crowd in the past has been on visitors in age from 40 years of age and up as they constitute 65% of their real business. ("Cruise demographics -,") They have been looking to pull in more families however and having been doing exploration to encourage this. It is clear that Carnival will need to figure out how to recapture trust with its buyers so it can perform this. Market Demographics The profile for the run of the mill customer is any individual who is searching for an excursion encounter that takes them to distinctive areas without them needing to arrange or try to do so. Geographics These regions represent 85 percent of the worlds cruise travelers. Carnivals purpose is to target purchasers of each taste as to value inclination and diverse cultures.("carnival Corporation,") Demographics "As stated by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) site, the cosmetics of people taking cruises have a tendency to be more established (average of 47) than normal respondents (44), with higher family earnings ($78,000 vs. $71,000), and more elevated amounts of instructive accomplishment (65% school graduate vs. 18%). Both assemblies are overwhelmingly wedded (83% cruisers vs. 82% aggregate). Steady with their more established age, cruisers are less averse to be resigned (19%) than those in the aggregate delegate examine (13%)."("cruise traveler demographics," 2009) Marketing will keep on strengthening the security with these purchasers if and just if Carnival can demonstrate that they are tending to the wellbeing worries that have been highlighted as of late. When that happens, extension of customers that are families will be simpler to pursue. This development will help Carnival to recoup their notoriety for security and at last build their deals. Market Needs Carnival is giving customers an excursion open door that permits them result for the hard earned money. Carnival gives an unwinding, satisfying travel that takes you to different goals around the globe. Consumers are searching for a comprehensive relax that gives them this. As it stands at this moment, other cruise lines are giving this without wellbeing concerns. While the organization has reacted, expressing that they are amidst an extensive survey and that it is Carnivals most elevated necessity, they need to accomplish more to restore buyer trust in the Carnival brand.(johanson, 2013) Market Trends Carnival is adding two new ships to its armada to stay aware of the current market trend of building greater, all the more mechanically developed boats. These boats, the Sunshine and the Breeze will give extravagance luxuries, fining feasting, and far-away ends of the line for purchasers to delight in. Carnival will keep on targetting voyagers, adolescent and old who are intrigued by a fun and competitive cruise alternative. Carnival will additionally keep on being forceful with marketing to people straightforwardly while they are on their cruises. This is one of the approaches to most viably market. Market Growth There is a normal expand in the amount of travelers taking cruises as the numbers have demonstrated an unfaltering yearly growth rate since 1990. Furthermore, the business is stretching quickly globally. Carnival has the open door to take advantage of growth on the off chance that they can highlight and fix wellbeing concerns of travelers to guarantee they dont stray to other cruise lines. As it stands, there are no excursion options that verge on what a cruise can offer to the shopper. SWOT Analysis The accompanying SWOT examination will indicate the strengths, weaknesses, open doors, and threats for Carnival Cruise Lines. Strengths Carnivals greatest strength is its size. With 6 subsidiaries and 100 boats, Carnival can give its administration on a global level. This has prompted Carnival has been marked as the worlds heading cruise line base on account of its capacity to engage each corner market. Due to their size, they can give cruise travels more economically than their rivals. As such, they are additionally a standout amongst the most gainful in the business. They additionally have been extremely forceful and had much accomplishment in promoting in print and TV focusing on lifestyle bunches which has expanded deals. Weaknesses Carnival has been highlighted in a negative time and again in the news. This has brought on customers to address the wellbeing of the brand and the business in general. Additionally, poor climate is something that can influence the brand as storms appear to be either more common or only written about more nowadays. Also, the climbing expense of fuel has created Carnival to charge more for travelers. Lastly, the brand gets the dominant part of its income from the US and in a debilitated economy, could influence its deals. Opportunities Carnival has an opportunity to highlight their examples of overcoming adversity from fulfilled shoppers to put their late unpleasantness stories behind them through TV and web supports. Also, there are open doors to extend their extravagance marks too expanding their offer of the European market while the US economy is enduring. Carnival likewise needs to take a gander at extending their rundown of travel objectives and marking on a greater amount of the distinguished, littler brands to keep on increasing its compass of control inside the business. Threats Carnivals greatest danger as of right now is itself. They have had an excess of episodes that have been highlighted to general society concerning security. If they continue being guarding about their wellbeing issues and dont focus on altering the issues, they will disintegrate their notoriety and reason shoppers to search somewhere else for their cruising needs. As such, the following greatest risk is their rival. Rivalry amongst competitors Carnivals biggest rival is Royal Caribbean Cruises which has a 23% market offer. Different contenders incorporate Star Cruises (which works Star Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruises) and Mediterranean Shipping Company. Competition is constantly developing in this industry. There is space for growth so this shouldnt be an issue as long as Carnival can coddle each conceivable niche. ("Carnival Cruises SWOT,") Product Offering Carnival offers a wide assortment of cruises to numerous diverse areas around the globe. Selections of diverse vessels from easy to extravagance, shore journeys, inn bundles, feast choices and more means Carnival will keep on maintaining cash and figure out how to meet the desires of travellers paying little heed to their society and/or foundation. Carnivals greatest key to triumph lies in the quality it offers to its travellers. Due to its immensity, the organization can offer altogether lower tolls to its travelers. Also, Carnival verifies you have a fabulous time. They give exercises to each age aggregation to guarantee that you are never exhausted. Additionally, despite the fact that Carnival is less expensive than its rivals, regardless it gives astounding nourishment and administration to its visitors. Basic Issues While Carnival is the biggest cruise line, their brand has been harmed by the negative press they have gained in the most recent year and half. They need to rapidly alter the wellbeing issues close by or else their rival could swoop in and exploit the circumstances. Marketing Mix Product Carnivals boats are eminent for having extraordinary décor and consistent exercises. Carnival Cruise has additionally been a predictable victor of Best Entertainment, as stated by Porthole Reader (Porthole Reader). Notwithstanding, it appears that the organizations quality in the market has dissolved – the organization topped in 1999 when it won nine recompenses in the Porthole Reader. By 2009, the organization just held four of these honors. The organizations site tries to skirt over this in its posting of awards: two out of the eight on its site are dated 1999 (Carnival). An incredible illustration of Carnivals superb fun product is exemplified in its room administration; not just does the organization offer correlative turn-down administrations, however the staff even gives wash towels in creature shapes (Fodors). Carnival has likewise increase the nourishment quality - as stated by Fodors, Carnival serves the best sustenance around the mega-cruise industry (Fodors). This improvement has risen up out of the expansion of the French expert culinary specialist, George Blanc to Carnivals authority group (Fodors). Carnival Corp as of now has 63 operational boats, with additionally nearing through retrofitting upgrades and new requests (Cruise Market Watch). Inside these boats and courses carnival has some particular offers; they let aggregations and association lease floors or whole ships for a particular course. The most open and now scratched off focused on wander was the Cougar Cruise, which was marketed to more established, single ladies, and more youthful single men (Padgett). Regardless of this disappointment, having cruises marketed to particular corners in the public eye has been a fruitful wander for Carnival (Padgett, Cruisemates). Price Carnival is intensely priced in correlation to its rivals. Carnival is likewise effective at profiting through expenses that accumulate from being on the cruise. Expenses, for example, the $10 tipping charge for every individual gather day by day, alongside extra expenses, for example, liquor buys and the 15% programmed tipping expense (Fodors). Carnival Cruise offers its product on a huge scale; their freshest boat weighs in excess of 100,000 pounds and can suit more than 2,000 individuals. This incredible size directs high settled expense; hence, for Carnival to make benefits, boats need to run at close limit. This obliges remaining rooms to be sold at profound rebates days before takeoff – an evaluating strategy known as yield administration estimating. This evaluating inside the business makes immediate correlations troublesome, since there are various elements that impact the price. Promotions To update buyers about the organizations remarkable product, Carnival runs national TV promotions (Morelock). Carnival has been an industry pioneer in promoting since 1984, when they ran the first broadly telecasted cruise commercial (Morelock). They keep on maing new advancements in the new thousand years. They as of late updated their site; the organizations improved "Funville" site is one of the cruise business most prominent sites. It tempts more than five million visits month to month (Kevin Gale). Place Carnival Cruises are sold through ticket executors, Expedia like sites, via telephone, and through Carnivals own particular site (Carnival, Expedia). The conveying of the product happens everywhere throughout the world. Normally, the port urban areas are found close intriguing ends of the line, which likewise have a tendency to be profoundly populated. Be that as it may, this is not generally the case - Carnival likewise offers "cruises to no place" where the sole motivation behind the outing is to cruise. All cruises keep going anyplace from three to fifteen days (Carnival Corporation & Marketing Strategy Carnivals key to their marketing strategy is to highlight their triumphs to their intended interest group. Through mail, TV, and web, Carnival must indicate through testimonials that they are a safe get-away alternative for explorers searching for a cruise choice. The organization can in any case utilize the way that they are the best result for the hard earned money yet they should additionally highlight the security viewpoint to each conceivable section of the business to guarantee the most extensive scattering. Positioning Carnival will position itself as it generally has previously; as the worlds biggest and best known cruise brand. They will add to this, the worlds most secure cruise line and will back this up through forceful security crusades and testimonials from existing fulfilled travelers. This will be vigorously promoted with trust that by 2014, purchasers will cohort Carnival Cruise Lines as the most secure cruise line. Strategies The fundamental center of the strategy is cohort security with the Carnival name. A fitting approach to fulfill this is to guarantee that ships are supported suitably and that groups get preparing on a repeating support to anticipate future like events that will discolor the "wellbeing picture" of Carnival Cruise Lines. The organization has put $300 million in crisis generators, fire wellbeing supplies and enhanced motor rooms likewise to guarantee security of its travelers and teams. The organization must highlight this to their clients to expand reliability to the brand and patronage.("ahead of the," 2013) With this, Carnival can administer its position as the worlds biggest cruise line with the best values. Marketing Program Valuing estimating will be 2-5% easier than contenders. This ought to guarantee that all voyages are close to or completely busy. Conveyance Carnival is utilizing a less regulate strategy for appropriation. They are making tracks in an opposite direction from call focuses and depending all the more on make a trip operators to book cruises for them as its much less expensive. Publicizing and Promotion—Television, web, and magazine articles will keep on being used to publicize cruises. Client Service—Carnival has dependably been known for having a notoriety for dealing with the client. Customer administration will constantly be surveyed and changed as the society and atmosphere of the business progressions to guarantee this does not change. Marketing Research Carnival is the most distinguished name in the cruise business. This makes it simpler for the organization as it will have the capacity to influence its notoriety to keep on acquiring new clients and administer those effectively reliable to the brand. Additionally, Carnival has favourable element as because of the current state of the economy, customers are searching for an excursion choice with the best esteem of which is one of Carnivals unique selling proposition (USP). Conclusion In conclusion to this project, I would like to comment that Carnival Cruise has been successful in its own industry and they boast of a huge customer base. However they did face some problems due to some incidents that were reported by the media. Nonetheless they have tried to overcome those situations to remain popular as always. Building on their strengths and opportunities and avoiding the risks will make them further successful in their segment of cruise tourism. References Ahead of the Bell: Carnival Cruise Lines. 2013. [online] Yahoo Finance New Zealand. Available at: [Accessed 18 Apr. 2014]. Candiotti, S. and Levitt, R., 2013. Investigators find fire clues aboard crippled Carnival Triumph. [online] CNN. Available at: [Accessed 18 Apr. 2014]. 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[online] Los Angeles Times Articles. Available at: [Accessed 18 Apr. 2014]. Mouawad, J., 2012. Industry Weighs Effect of Ship Accident. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: [Accessed 18 Apr. 2014]. Ortiz, S., 2009. Cruise Passenger Demographics. [online] Ask Direct Marketers. Available at: [Accessed 18 Apr. 2014]. SWOT Analysis. 2012. [online] Carnival Cruise Lines. Available at: [Accessed 18 Apr. 2014]. Read More