The Leisure-Cruise Industry Porter Paper

A. Pause Strategy (CI#1, 2, 3): Carnival Corp has been known for health and safety records, a key component in consumer decision-making in the cruise industry. In order to begin improvements, a pause strategy needs to be utilized to allow the company to take a step back from aggressive growth and focus more towards consumer necessities. Many complaints stem from issues like sanitization of rooms, quality of food, and ship malfunctions. Keying in on ship maintenance, restoration, and efficiency will significantly decrease the chance of malfunctions. While implementing more stringent and attentive guidelines towards guest amenities and conditions of food storage/quality to help increase consumer appeal.

Summary: The cruise line industry has been experiencing a period of massive expansion over the last decade thus heightening the competitive profile for the industry in terms of market share and competitive rivalry. Now cruise industry is one of the most competitive across all.

Top strengths that Carnival Corporation & plc has to their advantage would be their strong brand and major control of the market share. Containing a strong brand portfolio with a total of 10 well-known brands operating about 102 ships. Such brands include Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn in North America; AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Ibero Cruises, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK) under the Europe, Austrailia & Asia segments. Along with Holland America Princess Alaska Tour and the Canadian Yukon (Olarte, 2017). The company is also the largest cruise company in the world in terms of cruise passengers with a market share of about 47% followed by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd with a market share of 23% (Cederholm, 2015).

The threat that substitute products pose to an industry's profitability depends on the relative price-to-performance ratios of the different types of products or services to which customers can turn to satisfy the same basic need. The threat of

* Travel agencies: Travel agencies have strong relationships with the cruise industry as they book around two thirds of their cruise. Although this percentage is declining due to the growth of consumer knowledge and technology the percentage of cruisers using travel agents is relatively strong. (UCLIA)

Carnival is “The World’s Most Popular Cruise Line” with 24 “Fun Ships” operating voyages ranging from three to 16 days in length to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, New England, Europe, and Bermuda. Carnival’s success is attributed to its marketing program directed towards

Carnival Cruise’s, Disney Cruises and Norwegian was the only other clear competitors to RCL but in terms of subsidiaries Crystal Cruises was the only direct rival in terms of size and scale and position in the industry but in analyzing the demand increase from 1999 to 2001 a 16.7% increase in demand showed that Celebrity cruises had to maintain their position as a luxury brand to continue being a major player in the industry. The demand was strong and the competition was average, as it relates to entries to market the cruise line industry requires multiple stipulations and regulations required thus unless one of the major players mentioned above acquired a smaller cruise line to increase in operations and services Celebrity’s position was relatively strategic and smart. The competitive landscape was relatively small so quality improvement process should be the main focus during this time, they already created the process needed to offer superior service thus tweaks such as management training, career progression programs and increases in standard of performance programs would set Celebrity’s consistent quality assurance position in the industry to better

The Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc., was founded by Ted Arison in 1972. (Corporate Information) Ted ran the company until 1990 when he handed over the business to his son, Micky Arison. Micky became the CEO, and then became the Chairman. Carnival is the largest and most popular cruise line in the world, carrying more passengers than any other cruise ship. The Carnival Corporation mission statement is; “Our mission is to take the world on vacation and deliver exceptional experiences through many of the world's best-known cruise brands that cater to a variety of different geographic regions and lifestyles, all at an outstanding value unrivaled on land or at sea.” (Carnival Corporation History)

The economic climate has a strong impact on the cruise line industry. However, the cruise line industry is growing and more people are traveling today then ever before. As welfare of people has considerably grown despite all possible crises in world economy, anyhow many economic factors are influence to cruise line industry, such as clientele's economic positions, growth in markets, currencies rates when working international and inflation plays a role. Operators of a cruise will be affected under management and operational levels. If fuel price begins to increase, then it will influence operational costs of the company. If interest rates increase then, then it will influence the income of the company. Economic factor plays a major role for the company to be afloat of cruise industry.

Over the years the cruise industry has seen remarkable growths across the country. Several different ports have seen an increase in ships, which increases the amount of passengers have grown. When ships, and passengers increase it can only benefit the cruise industry in a whole. Means more profits, jobs, and the economy will thrive.

In summary, the low price sensitivity, low buyer concentration and the leadership of Carnival in the cruise industry on one hand enhances the buyer power while a high degree of involvement of travel agency on the other reduces their bargaining power, the power of buyer of the buyers in the cruise line market of Carnival is moderate.

There are large barriers of entry into the cruise businesses. Ships are extremely costly and time consuming to build.

The cruise-line industry has changed drastically over the past several years. What was once thought of as a luxury to most people, is now affordable and convenient. The industry now focuses on targeting the working middle class, as well as the upper class. One cruise-line in particular, Carnival, has mastered the informal cruise for the mass market. Carnival offers numerous cruises that are inexpensive and exciting. Nevertheless, Carnival operates internationally with shipyards and ports all over the world. Being an international business, Carnival is affected by many global forces, both controllable and uncontrollable. In order to maintain the corporation’s success, Carnival must be aware of all global forces while

Porter’s five forces analysis is a tool is useful for us to analyse the threat of competition in an industry. Porter believed that the industries were influenced by five forces; competitive rivalry, threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, and the threat of substitutes. Analysing these areas can allow you to see attractiveness of the market and find a competitive advantage.

The Travel and Tourism industry is still one of the largest single businesses in world commerce and its importance is widely recognized. The tourism industry is now one of the largest sectors earning foreign exchange. In the face of many benefits, many countries have started assigning due weight age to the tourism industry in their national development agenda. Tourism is an industry that operates on a massively broad scale: it embraces activities ranging from the smallest sea-side hotel; to air-lines, multi-national hotel chains and major international tour operators. Originally, non-traditional industries such as tourism emerged as a solution to strike a balance between ecology and industry