Priyanka Saxena Ray
What, in your opinion, is the USP of your Cruise Line (owned or represented)? How important is the Indian market for the Business of your Cruise Ship?
Resorts World Cruises is a homegrown Asian cruise line and we have over 50 years of cumulative and affiliated experience in the hospitality and cruise industry. This is one of our strongest USPs that enables us to truly understand the Asian market and deliver best-in-class services. We are in a strategic position to innovate and provide itineraries with unique offerings that resonate with our target audience. India is an important source market for our Fly-Cruise segment that contributes significantly to the overall business and operations.
What strategies is your company implementing to drive growth in the cruise tourism sector, and how are these strategies adapting to the changing travel trends and customer preferences?
Moving ahead, we will continue to drive and grow the Fly-Cruise segment. Reinforcing our B2B level will be essential as we continue to work closely with our travel partners. This include equipping them with updated and necessary ‘tool’ and info, including regular familiarization cruises to better promote our brand and offerings. Our focus is also to build the highly potential MICE segment with our partners. With trends evolving, travellers are constantly looking for unique experiences. As such, we will continue to promote unique experiences such as our luxurious The Palace – ‘A-Ship-Within-A-Ship’ experience, together with exciting thematic cruises.
Are the Cruise Tourism numbers back to what it was in 2019?
The demand for cruises had been very encouraging over the past year, contributing towards a positive recovery and growth, resulting in an increase in passenger numbers that match pre-Covid levels and also beyond for selected sailings.
With a growing market of younger travellers interested in experiential and adventure tourism, how is your company tailoring its offerings to attract and satisfy this demographic?
In terms of itineraries, popular destinations that appeal to younger travellers will be important, be it cities or island. Currently our destinations for the Genting Dream that include Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Singapore have a mass appeal, including younger demographics, including younger families. We also continue to enhance our onboard experiences catering to this group of audience. For example, demand for our onboard thematic cruises have been positive. Currently, the Genting Dream departing from Singapore is offering the ‘Sugar Pop’ thematic cruise – a carnival loaded with colours, sweet and fun activities for guests of all ages. Among the highlights include Pop It Artwork and Slime Making workshops, Pop it Playgrounds and Carnival games, colourful Fonduebar and yummy dessert carnival and more!
As the world increasingly embraces digitalization, what innovative technological features or platforms is your company implementing to enhance customer experiences both pre-cruise and on-board?
We are continuously enhancing out digitalizing initiatives to provide a seamless experience for our guests with our efforts concentrating on contactless experiences. These include contactless check out and payment for guests on ship, accessing the daily activity guide etc. We are exploring more digitalization options that is in the pipeline.
What significant trends do you foresee shaping the future of cruise tourism in the next
5 to 10 years?
In the next decade or so and as connectivity becomes more frequent, the Fly-Cruise segment will become even more popular and in demand. We will definitely see a growing number of travellers covering a wider spectrum of age group, including younger travellers as cruising become more accessible and more awareness is generated on the benefits and value of cruising.
What percentage of the Cruise Tourism business that you handle comprises repeat
clientele?
The Cruise Tourism business has a healthy and growing number of repeat cruisers and we are optimistic it will continue to develop.
What steps are being taken by your company to ensure the sustainability of cruise tourism in light of growing environmental concerns?
At Resorts World Cruises, we remain committed to sound environment practices in which a high standard of responsibility has been established to preserve the environment in which we operate. These include increasing energy efficiency, conservation of fuel and water, reducing solid waste generation, increasing recycling, protecting marine life and preventing oil pollution. For instance, the Genting Dream is equipped with Eniram trim optimization; and the exterior hull coating system incorporates the most advanced silicone-based paint to decrease drag in the water and increase fuel efficiency. Also, our ship uses Exhaust Gas Cleaning System (EGCS) to minimise emissions. In addition, we follow the highest marine industry standard and our Bio Waste Treatment system is equipped with dryers with the ability to incinerate or bag waste materials for offloading and disposal.
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