River cruising’s staying power

For those of us steeped in the world of river cruising, the fact that river cruising is a hot trend is old news. 

But last week Virtuoso released the results of its annual survey of travel advisors, who for the first time picked river cruising as the top trend for the coming year, beating out heavyweights such as multigenerational travel, adventure travel and celebration trips.

Clearly, there are still plenty of travelers and travel sellers who are only just now discovering and fully embracing river cruising as a travel style, which indicates that it likely has a long journey of growth ahead of it, despite the rapid rate at which Viking Cruises and others have been churning out new river cruise vessels in Europe and farther afield in recent years.

Michelle Baran

While it may seem like there is only so much that the river cruising segment can grow, the Virtuoso survey results are a reminder that in many ways the segment is arguably still in its infancy.

With demand and hype still strong, we can only expect to see more new ship announcements in Europe as well as further development of exotic river destinations such as Myanmar’s Irrawaddy and India’s Ganges. We can anticipate that some more new players will try to enter the market and that the competition will become even fiercer. I see greater design innovation and even more amenities on the horizon. 

Perhaps there will come a time when we all realize that river cruising isn’t just a hot, new trend, but that it is here to stay;  dynamic and permanent fixture of the travel industry. What has been a booming trend over the last several years, will eventually just be a travel reality.

Ups and downs in the life of a river cruise market

By Michelle Baran

In terms of cruising, the world’s rivers are all at different stages of maturation. Whereas the Nile River is an old-timer, with a river cruising tradition that dates back decades, Europe’s inland waterways are the sage adults of the river cruising industry, having benefited from years of unprecedented growth, investment and development.

And then there are the industry’s newer entrants, destinations like Southeast Asia’s Mekong River and Peru’s Amazon, where product and infrastructure have been gaining strength in recent years.

There are also rivers like the Mississippi that are experiencing a recent rebirth. 

And of course, the river cruise industry is always looking for the next breed of rivers, destinations like Myanmar’s Irrawaddy and India’s Ganges that are just now coming onto the scene. 

Regardless of where the river stands in the maturation process, there are advantages and disadvantages at each stage of development. Where Europe benefits from years of tweaking and perfecting the product, it also now faces the challenge of crowding and increased competition.

In emerging markets, the competition is less and the opportunities great, but so too are the frustrations of trying to building vessels that meet European standards in countries still rife with bureaucratic and economic problems.

A company like Breckenridge, Colo.-based Haimark is looking for opportunities in the emerging river cruise markets, hoping to capitalize on a river cruise industry that appears to be looking past the European boom.

Companies like Viking River Cruises, on the other hand, continue to invest heavily in the firmly established European market, where Viking clearly believes there is room for further growth as it prepares to launch another 14 ships there in 2014.

Are there some prenatal rivers on the horizon? Certainly. But river cruise lines are keeping pretty tight-lipped about them if there are.