Paste your text in here…Carnival Corporation & plc (Carnival) is one of the leaders in the global cruise industry (Carnival Corporation & plc, 2016). As we develop our business plans to venture into wellness tourism, staying relevant is a key consideration due to the ever-changing tourism industry. One way to stay relevant is to align ourselves with the current trends. As the Business Development Executive in Carnival, I have identified two trends ' the increasing demand for wellness tourism in Asia (SRI International, 2014) and rising demand for a personalized service experience. It is important that these trends are incorporated in our business plans for Carnival to allocate its resources in the respective areas of potential growth, obtain market share, gain greater revenue and stay ahead of the game. We have also identified our customers in Asia as the focus group due to the many significant trends emerging from the region such as the two we have identified. Furthermore, the middle class in Asia is growing and there is a growing proportion of them going on wellness trips. Especially as many of Carnival's competitors are beginning to venture into wellness tourism, it is vital that Carnival responds to the trends quickly.
Firstly, Asia is taking center stage in the wellness tourism industry. At a glance, we see wellness tourism growing in many parts of the world (SRI International, 2014). Upon closer inspection, we find Asia leading the charts as it continues to be the fastest-growing region for wellness tourism (ibid). A look at the industry landscape reveals how the easing of travel restrictions in Asian countries such as China (Carnival Corporation & plc, 2016) and the rising incomes of the Asian middle class (SRI International, 2014) have attributed to the aforementioned trend as Asian travelers now less restricted by legislation and possess greater purchasing power. With wellness tourism projected to continue its strong growth in Asia, this is a significant trend in the tourism industry as it represents a drastic shift in the Asian consumer preferences. Consumer preferences are vital as they shape business plans and when met, bring in the revenue. The changing industry landscape has brought about other trends apart from the rise of wellness tourism such as the rise of cruise tourism. Cruise tourism in Asia is growing at double-digit rates (Cruise Lines International Association, 2016) which is a good sign for Carnival as a leader in global cruises. Integrating these two trends, Carnival leverage on the collective trend of rising wellness tourism in Asia and look at designing wellness cruises specifically catered to our Asian clientele.
Secondly, the tourism industry has seen a greater demand for personalized services (OECD, 2016). Tourists today are looking for experiences that cater to their specific needs and expectations (Kizielewicz, 2013). A look at mediums that have facilitated such personalized experiences will uncover underlying trends that are important for consideration if Carnival wishes to provide personalized services effectively. The development in technology is one where mobile applications (OECD, 2016) and wearable devices (Pew Research Center, 2014) are increasingly being used for personalization in the tourism industry. In such a competitive fight about a client, the ability to effectively customize services to customer's expectations will be the key to success (Kizielewicz, 2013) and one way is via technology. Furthermore, it is aligned with our philosophy where we believe 'travel is a meaningful way to allow for personal growth'. Overall, we see one collective trend for Carnival to ride on ' the increasing demand for a digital personalized service experience. Together with the first recommendation ' wellness cruises catered to Asians, Carnival can look at providing a personalized experience for each customer on the cruise using technology such as wearable devices.
These are the two main trends we should align ourselves with but some difficulty may be faced when trying to follow them entirely. While we aspire to capitalize on the increasing demand for wellness tourism in Asia, there are many hard-to-reach places in Asia as they remain landlocked. Instead, Carnival should focus on countries such as Japan and China first where there is significantly more demand for wellness cruises (Cruise Lines International Association, 2016; SRI International, 2014). Also, while the increasing demand for digital personalized service experience appears promising, there are research and development costs associated with this expansion. Though such costs may be high, Carnival has seen double-digit returns on investment since 2014 (Carnival Corporation & plc, 2016) and will be able to afford it. Keeping these potential limitations in mind, it is important for us to adopt a business plan to ride on these two trends. Hence, Carnival Corporation & plc can look at revamping some of its cruises according to a wellness theme ' where facilities and destinations are wellness related and integrate a fully customizable program for each passenger on board using wearable devices.