Leisure & Travel

Growing popularity of cruise holidaysContemporary vacationers are increasingly opting for leisure cruise holidays, now an option available around the world. A wide array of choices are offered by cruise liners sailing to 1,800 ports of callOnce upon a time before the invention of jumbo jets which sharply reduced the cost and time of international travel, people had the option to combine pleasure with business by crossing the high seas. Indeed in the good ole days the beau monde preferred to sail on luxury ocean liners which plied the international sea routes. The five-day crossing of the Atlantic from Southampton (UK) to New York was a preferred sea route which launched a thousand-plus movies, including the tragic tale of the Titanic.However in the decade of the 1970s when the price of crude oil quadrupled twice and cost of air travel reduced sharply following the introduction of jumbo jets, the practice of travel by sea on business or pleasure became obsolete. Steamship passenger companies went into terminal decline and transformed into leisure cruise corporates offering people with time on their hands sun-drenched vacations on luxury floating hotels.As seagoing vacations continue to grow in popularity, cruise lines have introduced new ports of call around the world. These days vacationers can choose from a wide array of options offered by leisure cruise companies around the world, which have formed an apex governing organisation christened Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). Members of CLIA include all the big names of the leisure cruise industry including the first global cruise line Star Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, and Royal Caribbean. Currently cruise liners sail to over 1,800 ports of call on carriers varying from yacht-like ships ferrying 150 passengers, to mega vessels hosting more than 3,000 guests. Simply put, the cruise industry is booming and CLIA is confident that more than 12 million people will sign up for sea-cruise vacations on its member-line ships in the current calendar year. Different groups of travellers ‚ from stressed-out professionals on a three-day Caribbean jaunt, to extended families on seven-day visits to Alaska, Europe or South-east Asia to intrepid adventurers ‚ are increasingly opting for leisure cruise holidays, now an option available around the world.According to CLIA statistics the cruise line market consists of over 127 million travellers, of whom 39 percent (over 49 million) have cruised previously and 50 percent during the past three years. “Leisure cruising‚s continuing growth and increasing popularity reflects the fundamental value, guest satisfaction and broad appeal of cruise vacations today,” says the Mumbai-based Vijay Puthran, senior manager (sales) of Star Cruises (India).Adds Terry L. Dale, president and chief executive of CLIA: “The meteoric growth of the cruising industry from a boutique vacation to a mainstream travel option is testament to the changing holiday preferences of travellers worldwide and also to the innovative, passenger-pleasing ships launched year after year by cruise lines.” The leisure cruise industry is believed to have been invented by the London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co (P&O) which dominated the UK-India…