Royal Caribbean Cruises has hatched a fresh $1bn share buyback programme amid continued efforts to return capital to investors.
The new buyback will run for two years at a time analysts see a favourable outlook for the industry.
It was announced alongside a $0.60 per share quarterly dividend this week.
Richard Fain, chief executive of Royal Caribbean, said: “Over the past five years, we have increased our dividends five-fold and repurchased close to $1.25bn in common stock.
"We are very pleased to be in a position to improve returns for our shareholders, which remains one of our top priorities."
The shipowner has 50 vessels across its brands and a further 12 newbuildings on order.
The cruise market has been on the up and UBS analyst Robin Farley believes the trend is set to continue.
In the bank’s annual cruise outlook she said the sector will continue to benefit from favorable demographic and consumer spending trends.
“We believe the cruise sector is on track to deliver another year of strong growth yet cruise stocks are attractively priced below historic valuation levels,” Farley said.
