Carnival Corp & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, says that since June, fleetwide booking volumes and pricing trends for the remainder of fiscal 2012 and first half of 2013 have continued to strengthen, but remain behind prior year. The group’s financial year ends on 30 November.
“For the last six weeks, booking volumes excluding Costa have increased 9% versus the prior year at prices in line with last year’s levels. Over the same period, booking volumes for Costa have also increased 9% albeit at lower prices. For the remainder of the year and first half of 2013, cumulative advance bookings excluding Costa are still behind the prior year at slightly lower prices.
For Costa, cumulative advance bookings have shown considerable improvement but are still five occupancy points behind the prior year at lower prices over the same period.
Chairman and CEO Micky Arison commented: “The pace of booking volumes remains healthy enabling us to continue to catch up on occupancy levels, while pricing has gradually improved. Both of these trends leave us well positioned for a recovery in cruise ticket prices beginning in the second quarter of 2013.”
