TheUS cruise giant has announced in the last few days that it is to move three morecruise ships to markets in Asia.
Late onMonday it said it would shift two more ships to Australia from 2015lifting its capacity in the country to five ships.
Last week Carnival Corp said it would add afourth cruise ship to its growing operation in Mainland China.
US-listedCarnival describes China and Australia as two of the “fastest growing marketsin the cruise industry”.
CarnivalCorp chief executive Arnold Donald said: “By any measure, Australia is one ofthe top performing cruise markets in the world, with an eye-popping averageannual passenger growth rate of 20% over the past decade.”
“Australiancruise passenger numbers having increased 130% in the past five years and thereare projections of 800,000 in 2013 growing to 1m by 2016.”
Thetwo ships being added to P&O Cruises (Australia) currently sail as the Ryndamand Statendam in the Holland America Line fleet.
Theyare similar to the three existing P&O ships in Australia – the PacificDawn, Pacific Jewel and the Pacific Pearl.
Carnival announced last week that the Costa Serena will deployyear-round in China next year, taking the number of ships it has in the countryto four.
TheCosta Serena - set to sail out of Shanghai in April 2015 - joins CostaVictoria, Costa Atlantica and Sapphire Princess based in China.
Carnivalsaid the move capitalizes on growing consumer demand that is expected to makethe country the second largest cruise market in the world by 2017.
In2015, with four ships based in China for the first time, Carnival’s capacity isexpected to jump 140% over a two-year period.
Brands owned by Carnival Corporation operate 101ships totaling 208,000 lower berths with eight new ships due for delivery between2014 and 2016.
