Europe: Economic impact reaches record levels – full report

  

Will regulation halt growth?

Regulation is changing the seascape of cruise operations. Higher fuel costs and increased taxes are no longer simply a bottom line issue for cruise companies, reports Tony Peisley: they will affect ports and destinations, too.

Carnival Corporation & plc Chairman and CEO Micky Arison only has to go to the movies to see just how much impact the cruise line, which his father (Ted) created and he developed into a global corporation, has had on the American way of life.

Over the past two decades the number of new cruise ships delivered every year has averaged between nine and ten and, currently, there are about 350 ocean-going cruise ships operating around the world.

  

There is clearly a gulf between the views of cruise passengers and the experts sent by National Geographic Traveler (NGT) magazine to rate tourist destinations.