The Costa Group and its parent organisation Carnival Corporation & plc the world’s largest cruise company, today reaffirmed their joint commitment to Italy and Europe overall, announcing they will hire approximately 4,500 Italian crew members by 2022 to provide support for existing and primarily new ships currently on order.

With over 5,000 Italian crew members currently employed on Carnival Corporation ships, the number of employment opportunities will almost double in number. The Costa Group today also confirmed its leadership in Europe, announcing its fleet carried about three million guests in 2016, an increase of 13% from 2015.

In addition, it expects a further increase in 2017, with the launch of AIDAperla, the new flagship of AIDA Cruises, which arrived in Genoa today for the first time. AIDAperla will be deployed in the Mediterranean, calling at Civitavecchia/Rome and Livorno every week, with a total of 60 stopovers in Italy during 2017.

The Costa Group -- which includes the Italian brand Costa Cruises, the German brand AIDA Cruises and Costa Asia -- has 76,000 berths on its 27 vessels, the largest fleet of cruise ships flying the Italian flag. With Genoa serving as Costa’s headquarters, Italy is the country that benefits most from Costa Group's business.