Cruise Business Development : Safety, Product Design and Human Capital

This
book addresses innovation management and product development in the cruise
tourism industry. It explains how experience management has evolved from a
strictly company-level, product- or service-focused tactical task to an
industry-wide strategic challenge, and analyses the role of intangible
reputational aspects of cruise experiences, as well as peripheral components
and stakeholders, as increasingly important factors for customer acquisition
and retention. Safety and risk issues are a central theme, as well as the
cruise sector's environmental and socio-economic impacts. Lastly, the book considers
the increasing size of cruise vessels and the accompanying standardisation of
facilities and itineraries, in conjunction with the hybridisation of cruise
passengers in connection with expanding the competitive boundaries and intensity
of competition in the cruise sector. The book approaches these issues as more
than a mere public relations campaign, recognising the fact that they have since
become the very essence of strategic cruise business development.