Australasian bookings for 2012 are stronger and at higher pricing, but global sales have started slowing. SINCE June, bookings for Carnival Corp’s North American, European and Australasian brands have been up on last year; however, consumer confidence has been recently hit by economic and political “challenges”, according to the company’s...
Australasian bookings for 2012 are
stronger and at higher pricing, but
global sales have started slowing.
SINCE June, bookings for Carnival Corp’s
North American, European and Australasian
brands have been up on last year; however,
consumer confidence has been recently hit by
economic and political “challenges”, according
to the company’s management.
The sales slowdown, observed in August and
September, has shortened the booking window
but “it’s definitely not like 2008″, Carnival
chairman and ceo Micky Arison told analysts
yesterday.
Reporting its third quarter results, the company
outlined stronger than expected demand for
its North American brands and lower than
forecast costs, with $1.69 earnings per share.
Net income was $1.3 billion on revenues of
$5.1 billion, compared to last year’s Q3 profit
of $1.3 billion on revenues of $4.5 billion.
North American brands achieved almost 6%
yield increase, but European, Australian and
Asian brand yields fell 2% “due primarily to the
geopolitical unrest in the Middle East and
North Africa”, Arison said.
Higher revenue yields also helped offset a
45% rise in fuel prices.
According to Carnival, cumulative advance
bookings for the remainder of 2011 and the
first half of 2012 are at higher prices with
slightly lower occupancies compared to 2010.
Arison said the company had “a strong base
of business for the first half of 2012”, with full
year net revenue yields expected to increase.
