Royal Caribbean ‘confident’ young people will switch to cruises

Cruises have gone through a ‘revolution’, with the age of their average customer falling from 50+ to 40+, according to Royal Caribbean. Mario Bounas, director of marketing at Royal Caribbean International, claims the cruise ship industry has doubled in value since 2002 and that 1.7 million Brits have taken a cruise holiday in 2016. To tap into this rising demand, Royal Caribbean’s latest campaign shows wild swimming next to a waterfall, sunbathing on a beach and ‘surfing’ on board one of its ships. It has featured these activities to cater its cruises to a younger audience, which may want the choice of both adventure and relaxation from their cruise holiday. The ads will be rolled out on TV, VOD, radio, digital and social from 26 December. “There are a number of reasons our audiences have changed. The product itself has become more fun,” says Bounas. “Before people would have gone for package holidays but now people are considering cruises as an opportunity to travel to more destinations and take part in the most amount of activities.”