November, 2011 – This Sea Trade Insider article features AARC research about how the affluent have increased their cruising plans for 2012 (http://www.seatrade-insider.com/News/News-Headlines/Study-finds-affluent-likely-to-cruise-more-in-next-12-months.html).
In a recent survey of the wealthiest 10% of US households, the American Affluence Research Center (AARC) found that intentions to cruise during the next 12 months rose to 18% of the affluent, a 50% improvement over the Fall 2010 survey (12%).
Despite a sharp decline in the respondents’ assessment of current business conditions and their 12-month outlook for the economy and their personal financial situation from the more positive mood evident in the Spring 2011 survey, the intentions to cruise are above the 15% reading in the spring.
Other good news for the luxury cruise lines, said AARC president Ron Kurtz, is that plans to cruise during the next 12 months among their primary source markets—the wealthiest 1% (those with a minimum net worth of $6m) and the more mature (age 60-plus) groups—were at 32% and 20% respectively.
About two-thirds of the affluent say they expect to spend more or the same for international vacation travel during the next year as they did during the prior 12 months.
At 18% of a population of 11.4m households, the estimated number of affluent cruise buyers is 2.05m households or 4.1m total cruisers over the next 12 months.
Kurtz, a former president and chief marketing officer of several cruise lines, noted that ‘this number of affluent cruisers far exceeds the capacity of the luxury lines and indicates the affluent will continue to be an important source of business for the premium and contemporary cruise lines.’
The Fall 2011 Affluent Market Tracking Study, No. 20 in a series of twice-yearly surveys, is based on a national sample of 499 men and women who have an average annual household income of $282,000, an average net worth of $3.1m, average investable assets of $1.7m and a primary residence with an average value of $1.1m.
Information: https://affluenceresearch.org/most-recent-tracking-study/highlights-of-most-recent-survey/.