Celebrity Cruises has a fleet of 13 cruises and currently, around 500 million dollars are invested to renew them.
With a floating platform or 3D art facilities, the Celebrity Edge is one of the most innovative cruises due to its design and, although it still has no entry date to Mexico, its operator, Celebrity Cruises, does seek to consolidate its presence in national waters.
Since 2015, the firm’s passengers have grown 31% and Mexico has become its fifth most important market around the world, behind the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. A year, the brand has accounted for the transport of one million travelers globally.
The operation in Mexico is located in the ports of Cozumel and Ensenada. Its strategy is focused on attracting more passengers, so the arrival of new cruise ships to the country is not contemplated, says Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, CEO of Celebrity Cruises.
For this, it contemplates a strategy focused on promoting its brand in the country, so that people know its value offer. The Mexicans, he says, have the same behavior as that of Central American countries, because among the destinations that are attractive to them are Europe, Alaska and the Caribbean.
“The cruise industry is growing at a rate of 5% per year and that is one of the reasons we want to grow our presence in Mexico and attract more travelers,” he says.
He says that what his customers are looking for are the amenities on the cruise, so “we don’t plan to bring new boats to Mexico because we don’t sell places in the country, that’s not our strategy. We have clients that fly from different places and they don’t look for locations. ”
And it is that the country continues as attractive for the arrival of cruise ships. The General Directorate of Ports of the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) reports that until September the arrival of 2,075 vessels has been recorded. Between 2016 and 2017 the growth was 14% and by the end of 2018 it reached 8%.
For Roberto Montalvo, coordinator of the Bachelor of Hospital Administration at the Ibero University, if more cruises are arriving in Mexico, it is not only about operating more frequencies but also that the destination offers a comprehensive tourist experience.
“We would have to start from how we welcome our visitors. Diversify the concept of tourism product, not just destinations because if the experiences with them in all places make no difference,” he says.
Globally, the brand has a fleet of 13 cruises and currently, around 500 million dollars are invested to renew them and raise them to the same quality of services that the Edge has, although in size they are smaller.
Source: expansion
The Mazatlan Post
