e so many of them live near or on the beach. This is encouraging considering that seniors will represent the largest age group within North America in 10 years.The Cruise IndustryThe cruise industry may be an indicator of changing vacation preferences. It competes with other vacation destinations, such as traditional beach resorts, eco-tourism, lake resorts, mountain regions, large cities and small rural areas. Cruises, especially those to the Caribbean, do divert tourists away from traditional beach destinations, but their increasing affordability is also drawing more tourists from other vacation destinations who previously could not have afforded warm-weather destinations. Cruise is the fastest growing major sector in the worldwide tourism industry.It has experienced an 8% annual growth since 1980, almost twice the overall growth of tourism.The North American market, including the Caribbean, is the largest one. In 1997 it had a growth rate of 8.6% for a total of 5.05 million North American cruise passengers. The cruise industry is expected to increase its capacity by at least 50% by the year 2002, surpassing the number of land hotel rooms in the Caribbean.The growth of this industry is in part due to its expansion out of the traditional upper and upper-middle class customer base and into the middle class. Presently, the mass-market, contemporary and budget categories account for about 53% of passenger capacity.The upscale premium category accounts for another 36%. Over the past decade, the average age, from 56 to 44, and average income of cruise passengers have fallen steadily, particularly as baby boomers have taken up cruising. Top managers of cruise companies agree that with the popularization of cruises within younger tourists, the market for cruising is just beginning to develop.These figures show that both Canadians and Americans have a strong attraction to the beach and other warm-weather destinations. Beaches are alre...
