Analysis of perspectives of building of new river cruise vessels

Abstract

The importance of river tourism is shown. As for now there is a noticeable trend towards differentiating services. European business now offers not just standard services, but also tries to highlight each tour with some special solution, for example, special cuisine, classical music, opportunity to carry out concert and entertainment events, etc. Trends in domestic market correspond with the European one, where since 2013 there has been dynamic growth in the number of cruises, primarily due to American tourists. The European river cruise market is the largest (41 % of all river cruise ships are in Europe). The fleet on the Nile River is significant, but due to political instability in the region, it is stagnating. The cruise ship fleet in Russia continues to shorten and aging. In America and Asia (mainly China), the number of river vessels is growing, but not significantly. Utilization of the «old» series of domestic river cruise ships is not only proceeding, but is also proceeding at an increasing pace. It peaked in 2011- 2018, and this process continues now. At the same time, the total passenger capacity of cruise ships decreases both due to the decommissioning of ships and due to a decrease in the number of seats while increasing comfort during refitting. Almost all vessels have been re-equipped or modernized to one degree or another. The number of domestic river cruise passenger ships by 2025 will be reduced by almost 30 %, to 87 units (including the new fleet). By 2030, its number may be reduced to 53 ships, excluding ships that can be built. To preserve the concept of «river cruise», and not only for foreign tourists, it is recommended for the medium and long term to build new passenger ships that would most fully meet the market demands.