Dufry today announced an ambitious expansion of its cruise line retail activities with the creation of Dufry Cruise Services and a related Center of Excellence, based in Miami, USA.
The world’s largest travel retailer underlined its ambitions for the channel by also revealing that it has just started operations onboard Norwegian Joy. The Norwegian Cruise Lines vessel was especially built for and customised to the Chinese cruise market.
Norwegian Joy is Norwegian Cruise Line’s first ship to have been built specifically for Chinese travelers.
Dufry CEO of Division 4 Rene Riedi commented: “The new operational offices will complement the current operations and logistics-purchasing platform, in order to have our resources close to the main cruise ship itineraries. It allows a global footprint with specialised local knowledge and regional expertise.
Dufry’s cruise ship operations cover routes from the USA to the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe and Asia. The company operates total retail space of close to 9,000sqm, ranging from 140sqm to near 2,000s m per store on vessels owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines, Carnival and Pullmantur.
Dufry is currently present on 17 cruise ships and offers a full range of traditional duty free products as well as brand boutiques similar to airports and specialist shops, such as the Colombian Emeralds jewellery shops.
Dufry debuts on Norwegian Joy with nine shops covering 1,950sq m of retail space. The ship is the first Norwegian cruise liner which has been built specifically for Chinese travelers.
The new Breakaway-Plus Class Ship caters for the 3,850 guests it can accommodate with luxurious suites in an exclusive ‘ship-within-a-ship’ complex. “For Dufry this is an important strategic step to open the Asian cruise market and further expand this growing channel,” the company said.
According to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), ocean cruise passengers reached 24.7 million in 2016. For 2017, CLIA projects another year of growth with a passenger forecast of 25.8 million.
Part of that rise can be attributed to the development of the Asian market, whose ocean capacity was up by +9.2% in 2016, representing a +38% increase compared to 2015, Dufry said.