Chinese customers are flocking to Australia when choosing fly cruises, said the chief executive of the world's largest cruise company.
Arnold Donald of Carnival Corp remarked on Australia's growth potential in attracting well-heeled customers from China who depart on global cruises, the destinations ranging from Europe to Alaska.
Apart from attracting customers for international cruises, Carnival also sees tremendous potential in growing the domestic China cruise market, Donald said.
He made the comments during an earnings call, which focused greatly on the resurgence of the Caribbean sector post the battering the region took in 2017, hit by three hurricanes.
Despite concerns, the Caribbean market has been good and is strengthening further, Donald said.
"It is not a struggle in the Caribbean... it has been delivering and continues to deliver."
While the second and third quarter Caribbean yields were down, the company expects sequential improvement in the first quarter next year, CFO David Bernstein said.
The company is "absolutely focused on earnings growth," Donald said.
Carnival, a London- and New York-listed cruise behemoth, posted better than expected third quarter results today, though market enthusiasm was dampened by a weaker fourth quarter profit guidance.
The Miami-based company reported an adjusted net income of $1.7bn, higher than the $1.3bn booked in the same period of last year.
The third quarter spans the the typically profitable summer months, during which many families take cruise vacations.
