Biggest Changes In The Cruise Industry example essay topic

Before we proceed to our discussion of cruise ship industry I believe we should first submerge in the notion of tourism in order to see the very model of peoples motivation, which makes them join cruises. MacCannell, in The Tourist (1999), portrayed the tourist as being on a pilgrimage, a search for authenticity. To define "authentic", MacCannell drew upon the distinction made by the sociologist Erving Goffman between the "front" and "back" regions of social establishments. The front is the place where hosts and guests, performers and audience, or service persons and customers, meet one another; the back is where members of the home team retire between performances to relax and prepare. The back region, as we all know, allows concealment of props and activities that might discredit the performance out front.

In a literal sense it creates a staged performance situation, the terms "front" and "back" describe actual ways in which the social roles are enacted. This search for authenticity by the tourist is seen as a compensatory process as tourists seek to recreate structures, authentic lifestyles that modernity has smashed. What MacCannell called "staged authenticity", a way of fooling the observers can, and usually does, take place within the tourism industry: the people being toured understand the tourists desire to see real life, and obligingly manufacture false "back regions" to satisfy it. In contrast to MacCannell, who believes that tourists desire authenticity, Feifer (Urry, 1990) argues that tourists understand that it is impossible to have an authentic tourist experience and in fact enjoy inauthentic activities. Urry discusses Feifer's theory on "playfulness". Play, she argues is a main feature of postmodernism and has been incorporated into numerous activities.

Play has allowed for a de-differentiation between work and leisure. We enjoy "playing" roles in society. This would suggest that Goffman's theory on public representation is another game we play. We act out many roles in life and when we go on holidays, we enjoy acting the part of the tourist. We know that we are being treated as such. We realize that there is a front stage and back stage and that neither are authentic but we enjoy it all the same and will be fulfilled because we played a part in the spectacle.

Some authors like Cohen (1988) reject this idea of tourism being a mass deception of staged authenticity as mentioned by MacCannell. Cohen as cited in Theobald (1998: 412) has noted that the work on authenticity made three assumptions: that tourism leads to exploitative culture commoditization; which destroys authenticity by staging it; which hinders the tourists genuine desire for authentic experience, however, Cohen did not agree with this assumption. The notion of authenticity is a modern value according to Cohen; whose emergence is related to the impact of modernity upon the unity of social existence such as the emergence of individualism, all of which leads to search of the real thing. He has said that authenticity is a socially constructed concept, the meaning of which is not given, but negotiable to the subject. In 1977, a television production company, Aaron Spelling Productions, had an idea that a luxury cruise ship would be an ideal setting for a television series.

The idea became a reality and "The "Love Boat" was born. The series continued in production for over ten years and is still in syndication all over the world (web lbp 2. htm). "The Love Boat" popularized the idea of cruising. Before the series aired cruises were thought to be only for the rich and famous. Now the industry was beginning revolutionize. The industry realized there was a need for change and now cruises are being enjoyed worldwide by people of all ages and social classes.

Over the last few decades cruises have also adapted to accommodate the ever-changing cruising population. Cruises now range from theme cruises including jazz, singles vacations and holiday cruises. Also, with the health awareness in the market place, many cruise ships now include fitness programs, special meals, lap pools and state of the art gyms (Vladimir, D. 1997). One of the biggest changes in the cruise industry is the amount of families taking cruises. In the past, it was rare to see children on cruises. It is for that reason that cruise lines have had to adapt their packages to include younger children; one of the best examples of this is the Disney Cruise line.

Disney delivers a cruise vacation with a lot to offer. On a Disney cruise, you can see three new original Broadway-style shows and you can also experience a different dining experience every night. There are oversized rooms that are perfect for families with children and even separate activity areas for kids, teens, and adults. Disney cruises even make a stop at their own private island in the Bahamas, where you can have your own private beach party, snorkel or enjoy other water activities (web). The cruise industry is an ever-growing industry. The Cruise Lines International Association estimates that approximately 5.2 million people took a cruise somewhere in the world in 1988. (web).

The cruise industry has experienced strong growth over the last two decades and the majority of the growth has been in the North American market. In 1988, cruises embarking from North American ports comprised the majority of the worlds cruise markets both in terms of revenue and passengers. Passengers embarking in North America made up 61% of the worlds total cruise passengers and 67% of the worldwide cruise industry revenue (EPG C, 1990). The North American cruise industry is over a $7 billion business that carries almost 5 million passengers annually and directly employs approximately 50,000 people. It is projected that by the end of the year 2000, as many as 8 million passengers per year will cruise. Cruising has become the fastest growing segment of the vacation business for the last decade; beating land based resorts, theme parks, and other attractions.

Studies show that whether people are first time cruise users or repeat users, the majority of them rate cruising as better than any other vacation experience and ninety percent of them expect to take more cruises in the future (Vladimir, 1997).