Unique Cruise Solutions

The news you need to know

Back to News Menu

Cruise News for the Corporate Travel Professional

November 2011 Edition

Charleston business's support Carnival's "Liberty"

A recent hotel market analysis of the greater Charleston, S.C., area based on data from 164 hotels in the Charleston region tended to prove that cruise ship activity increases occupancy and raises rates.

The study, commissioned by the South Carolina State Ports Authority and completed by consultant Bottom-Line Analytics, found that 1,158 additional room nights were booked immediately before and after a cruise ship docked.

Over the course of the study, conducted from Jan. 1, 2009, to Oct. 1, 2011, those bookings translated into $13.5 million in additional hotel revenue. Occupancies, daily rates and revenue per available room for each hotel were obtained from STR.

It’s little wonder therefore that the region’s business community is supporting Carnival Cruise Lines’ efforts to quash a lawsuit that’s challenging the Carnival Liberty’s presence in the city.

Carnival, which homeports the 3,000-passenger Carnival Liberty in Charleston, was targeted in a lawsuit filed in June by four citizen groups that claimed the line is in violation of several local zoning ordinances.

In August the ports authority and the city of Charleston joined Carnival in petitioning the state Supreme Court, asking it to dismiss the case. The outcome is pending, but the regional business community has rallied behind Carnival since the lawsuit was filed.

The hotel analysis shows that local businesses are positively affected when a cruise ship enters or leaves the port.

“We found remarkable consistency in the data, demonstrating a significant and measurable effect of cruise ship embarkations and debarkations on hotel sales in all communities of the greater Charleston region," said Michael Wolfe of Bottom-Line Analytics.

On the day prior to an embarkation, hotel occupancy in the greater Charleston metro area was on average 1.5 percentage points higher compared with days with no embarkation activities. The analysis revealed that embarkations also had a measurable effect two days prior to an embarkation (1.8 percentage points higher).

On the days of a cruise ship disembarkation, hotel occupancy averaged 50.5%, compared with 47.2% on non-disembarkation days.

The study zeroed in on 17 hotels in downtown Charleston, and found better results. During the survey period, these properties experienced occupancies up to 3.4 percentage points higher on days before an embarkation, and 4.9 points higher on disembarkation days.

Across all hotels in the study, Revenue one day prior to an embarkation averaged $48, compared with $47.20 when no cruise ship activity took place. On days of disembarkations, revenue increased by $6.30, a 15.4% jump. During the study period there were 125 cruise ship embarkations.

According to researcher John Crotts, “The data show only positive benefits of embarkations and debarkations on hotel revenue, from what is a modestly scaled cruise operation.”

There were 125 cruise ship embarkations during the study period.

Up

Worldwide Travel & Cruise Assoc., Inc.

150 S. University Dr.  Ste E, Plantation, FL 33324 - USA

Tel: +1 954 452 8800  Fax: +1 954 252 3945

EMail: sales@cruiseco.com

Designed & Published by: Worldwide Media.