Cruise industry represents a small segment of the vacation industry which itself is a very small part of the leisure industry. The cruise market is characterized by exceptional value proposition, wide appeal, positive guest demographics, high guest satisfaction rate and favorable supply vs. demand balance.

The industry has seen a significant growth over time and it is expected to grow further in the coming years. Though, in 2009, the growth in industry has declined, but it is expected to pick up again as the global economy recovers gradually from the downturn. Seeing the growth potential in cruise market, the number of players has increased and the existing players will be increasing their capacities in the coming years.

North America is the primary market for cruise activities. Though the region represents the most mature market of cruise activities, with majority of passengers originating from US, it is still underdeveloped with huge potential. Hence, industry players are working to increase their ship capacities and lower berth capacities to meet the growing demand of the industry. Europe is the second largest market after North America, representing the fastest growing market. The European cruise industry continues to increase its share of the global cruise market, with UK being the largest shareholder in the European market.

The global cruise industry is now looking towards Asia as a major growth engine. The Asian cruise market is growing at a good growth rate. With the growing middle class group and the increasing interest of people in cruising activities, this region provides ample growth opportunities for the players. Being among the top preferred destination for travelers, the Australian and Singapore cruise industry can witness significant growth in near future.

The present report offers an analysis of the global cruise market. It also discusses major market trends, growth drivers and potential markets for cruise activities. The report also presents the competitive structure of the industry and profiles major players in the cruise market with a discussion of their key business strategies.

By combining SPSS Inc.'s data integration and analysis capabilities with our relevant findings, we have predicted the future growth of the industry. We employed various significant variables that have an impact on this industry and created regression models with SPSS Base to determine the future direction of the industry. Before deploying the regression model, the relationship between several independent or predictor variables and the dependent variable was analyzed using standard SPSS output, including charts, tables and tests.