Research Proposal for Marketing in the Cruise Ship industry Essay

Research Proposal for Marketing in the Cruise Ship industry - Essay Example While the American cruise industry has had a head start, the European Cruise Council (ECC) claims that Europe recently has become the centre of gravity for the cruise industry of the world with a record of 4 million travellers. The United Kingdom has one of the largest sources of market for European cruises which has a share of 1.3 million passengers for the year 2007 (ETN, 2008). However, with the setting in of global recession, the UK cruise industry has also been hard hit with a fall in travellers overseas as compared to other countries in Europe. Companies which deal with cruise tours have been hard hit with no option but to continue with scheduled tours. Industrialists consider these situations grave, and are of the view that they should shut down supply by cancelling bookings. Others, owners of cruise lines such as Carnival, Seatrade, and MSC Cruises especially, are of the view that companies need to continue in order to survive the meltdown (holidayinsider.com, 2009). In such hard times, it is critical that companies change their approaches to management and marketing. This is a tricky business when considering the structure and operation of cruise businesses. By and large the cruise ship industry has been one of the fastest growing industries with a brief history of growth stemming from during 1970s in the North America, even though its origin had been European. The style of service delivery, product, management and plans for tours are different from the usual customer service oriented industries. This is because the nature of the cruise industry is perishable; that is once the cruise is underway the value of the room booked ends. Cruise lines depend entirely on their passengers to generate revenue as well as operation. It is highly demand elastic which makes it one of the most volatile industries in the world. Companies,

Which contexts and developments help to explain European expansion (wk Essay

Which contexts and developments help to explain European expansion (wk 16) and New World conquest (wk 13) - Essay Example First of all, the course for the New World explorations and the European expansion was dented by the unhealthy interactions and relationship that existed between the indigenous people and the explorers. It is through these interactions that pestilence and violence occurred resulting in a significant decline in the population (Greenblatt 11). The religious conflicts witnessed between the Christians and Muslims resulted in crusades that would go a long way in shaping the conquest. As early as the 11th century, the Catholic Church felt it was its duty to redeem the Spaniards and the Holy Land from people it regarded as religious infidels. It is these fervent crusades that opened the way for European inhabitants to take root in North and South America. ` The religious expeditions into the Middle East exposed the Europeans to the valuable trade goods which came from Asia. These goods namely silks, sugar, spices and other products that were synonymous with India and China were highly regarded in the European households. However, the transportation of such was a rather tiring process that required the services of Muslim middlemen and sometimes the payments of tributes. To solve this, the Portuguese sailors had to look for an alternative route through the coastline of Africa. This way, colonization, took place and slaves were sold to Europe. Another contributing factor to this conquest haze was the discovery of gold by the Spaniards. The Spaniards quickly realized that magnanimous profits would not be drawn from the silk and spices but the gold and silver in the â€Å"new world." This mania about the mineral ores was generated in part by Columbus’ preliminary to Isabella and Ferdinand. All in all, the conquest and expansion was favored or discouraged by the respective natives (Greenblatt 12). While some were subservient, timid, kind and welcoming, others were the direct