Peter Mathieu
Chairman Cruise & Ferry World

www.cfw.be

Considering the compensation due to the tremendous cruise sales growth we’ve experienced the last couple of year within Belgium, we can state that the cruise operators within our market are not particularly affected by the crisis.  Of course, should there have been no crisis, we might have had an even more important growth than the one we are experiencing now. 

For the consumers, both individuals as well as incentive oriented, there are some great deals to be made.  When you take into account that the US market is stagnating, consequently generating additional availability, we can safely state that cruise rates have never been as attractive as today.  Rather than looking at the actual situation as being a threat, we should welcome the lower rates as being an opportunity to increase our volumes and to introduce cruising to a share of the market which might have been reluctant so far.