01/06/2024
A REVIEW OF 2023... The biggest news of 2023 may be that among the travel stories that were most impactful this year, not one was about COVID. There were no major outbreaks, restrictions were a thing of the past and the world was almost entirely open for travel. However, quite a few stories were connected to world events that impacted travel: the Maui wildfires, wars in Israel and Ukraine, and the OceanGate implosion. Other stories are a reflection of our time, like Disney in the crosshairs of Florida’s highest office.
Cruising comes roaring back: No other segment of travel was as battered by the pandemic as cruising. The industry shut down almost completely for 18 months and spent three years taking on debt while hemorrhaging money trying to stay afloat. Entering 2023, only one of the Big Three, Royal Caribbean Group, had managed to turn a profitable quarter since the pandemic began. But, in 2023, Royal, Carnival Corp. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings all started making money again. Carnival Corp made debt payments of $6 billion in 2023 and ended the year with just over $30 billion of debt, $5 billion less than in Q1. Overall performance was driven by a groundswell of demand during the first full year with virtually no travel restrictions. Cruise lines had their full fleets back in the water with occupancy climbing past 100% at higher fares.
The Maui fires: The wildfires that swept through West Maui on August 8 killed 97 people and leveled most of Lahaina, the former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the historical and cultural heart of the island. Maui has since suffered a second catastrophe as tourism, by far the main driver of its economy, plummeted in the aftermath of the fires, even in unaffected parts of the island.
A not-so-magical year for Disney: Disney may be the happiest place on Earth, but for a stretch of 2023 even the mouse appeared miffed. Last spring, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took control away from the Disney-appointed board that governs the taxing district for Walt Disney World Resort. DeSantis and Disney CEO Bob Iger traded barbs and, making good on their threat, Disney canceled plans for a campus near Disney World that would have housed 2,000 employees relocated from California.
Disney made headlines on another front, as well. Just over a year after opening the much-hyped Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel at Walt Disney World, the property closed in September. Plagued by rumours of flagging demand due mostly to its steep pricing, the closure coincided with softening demand at Disney World last summer, coming off pandemic peaks.
But a Disney ending is never sad. In September, the company revealed ambitious plans to put $60 billion into its parks, experiences and products over the next decade, nearly doubling what it spent on its parks in the previous 10 years.
Wars: With the industry still feeling the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war months ahead of its second anniversary, fighting between Israel and Hamas broke out in October. And while the immediate impact seemed to be limited to cruises and tours in Israel, as the war continued, cancellations as far away as Dubai were blamed on the conflict, while river cruise operators said that Egypt bookings had slowed substantially. As a result of Russia’s attack of Ukraine, the industry has for almost two years been offering Baltic itineraries without St. Petersburg, the region’s premier port of call. While most other regions flourished, bookings for Eastern Europe in 2023 were still short of 2019 levels.
OceanGate: For what seemed like a long week in June, the world could not look away from coverage of OceanGate’s Titan submersible, which lost contact with its support ship while on a dive to see the Titanic wreck on the ocean floor. It was ultimately found to have imploded, killing all five of its occupants. The tragedy thrust into the spotlight “extreme tourism,” travel that can put participants at great risk in order for them to go where few have been before, often at prices as extreme as the activity: Seats on the OceanGate submersible sold for $250,000 each. While OceanGate may have prompted scrutiny of the dangers of this type of travel, it didn’t seem to stifle it: Just two months later, Virgin Galactic launched its first group of tourists into space on a rocket-powered plane where seats cost up to $450,000, and, according to Virgin, its wait list numbers 800.
