遊輪巨頭嘉年華 皇家加勒比加碼豪賭中國市場

Move over, Miami. Here comes Shanghai.

讓一讓，邁阿密。上海來了。

Buoyed by the explosive growth of the cruise industry in China, the world’s two largest cruise operators, Royal Caribbean RCL 6.47% and Carnival CCL 6.08% are redoubling their presence there.

受中國遊輪行業的爆炸式增長影響，全球兩大遊輪公司——皇家加勒比和嘉年華正在對中國業務成倍地加碼。

Carnival, which on Friday raised its 2015 profit forecast on the strength of better than expected advance bookings, expects the overall number of outbound cruise passengers from China to hit the 1 million market for the first time in 2015, and serve almost half of those.

上週五，嘉年華提高了2015年利潤預測，原因是遊輪預定情況好於預期。該公司預計，2015年乘遊輪出境的中國遊客數量將首次達到100萬人次，而該公司將爲其中幾乎一半的遊客提供服務。

China remains a much smaller market for the cruising industry than the United States or Europe, but interest in taking to the seas as a middle-class vacation option is surging in China, and buoying the whole industry.

和美國或歐洲相比，中國的遊輪市場要小得多。但中國中產家庭對乘遊輪度假的興趣正在急劇上升，並且推動着整個行業的不斷增長。

“China presents the next great frontier for cruising,” Carnival CEO Arnold Donald told Wall Street analysts. “It’s just a matter of time before China becomes the largest cruise market in the world.”

嘉年華首席執行官阿諾德o唐納德對華爾街分析師表示：“對遊輪業來說，中國是下一個等待開發的關鍵市場，它成爲世界上最大的遊輪市場只是時間問題。”

According to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the total number of trips abroad by Chinese citizens rose about 10% to 109 million in 2014, with spending up about 17%. And more of that is going to cruises: the number of cruise passengers originating from China rose 79% between 2012 and 2014.

聯合國世界旅遊組織提供的數據顯示，2014年中國的出境遊客總數增長了10%左右，達到1.09億人次；中國遊客的境外支出也上升了約17%。同時，越來越多的中國遊客開始選擇乘坐遊輪。2012-2014年，搭乘遊輪旅遊的中國遊客數量增加了79%。

Carnival currently has four ships based in China. The company recently signed a memorandum with state-owned China Merchants Group to look into forming two joint ventures that will build cruise ports and ships.

目前，嘉年華在中國投放了四條遊輪。該公司最近和招商局集團簽署了備忘錄，內容是設立兩家合資公司，分別從事遊輪碼頭建設和遊輪製造。

Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean said earlier this week that Tianjin, a city of 10 million about 100 miles from Beijing, will be the new home for its third Quantum-class ship (those with the most bells and whistles like space observation decks) starting in April 2016. It will be the fifth China-based ship in the company’s fleet and its first to be based in China from the get-go. Last year, Royal Caribbean decided to redeploy its newest ship, the 4,200-passenger Quantum of the Seas, to Shanghai year-round as of this spring, after only six months cruising New York-Caribbean trips.

與此同時，皇家加勒比本週早些時候表示，從2016年4月份開始，該公司第三條量子級遊輪（這種遊輪擁有巨大的觀光甲板等許多奢華設施）將以天津爲母港，後者有1000萬人口，距北京約100英里（約161公里）。這將是該公司投放中國市場的第五條遊輪，也是第一條一下水就部署在中國的遊輪。去年，皇家加勒比決定將可容納4200名乘客的海洋量子號重新部署到上海。這是該公司的最新遊輪，此前只在紐約-加勒比航線上航行過六個月，今後它將常駐上海。

To funnel more Chinese passengers to its ships, Royal Caribbean is looking for partnerships with local travel companies. In the fall, it struck a deal with Chinese online travel company Ctrip, which is the biggest seller of its cruises there.

爲了讓更多中國遊客登上自己的遊輪，皇家加勒比正打算和中國旅行社合作。去年秋天，該公司和攜程網達成協議，後者是皇家加勒比在中國的最大銷售代理。

And to make it clear to the China government, whose cooperation Royal Caribbean and its rivals need to get more infrastructure that lets large ships dock in various cities, that its plans to keep investing in China. Royal Caribbean said this week it is looking into building Chinese dry dock facilities and developing logistics centers to supply its ships deployed in the region. It is also considering programs that would bring thousands of North American vacationers to visit China by cruising.

中國政府正在和皇家加勒比及其競爭對手合作，而這需要增設基礎設施，以便大型遊輪停靠在中國的各個城市。爲向中國政府表明自己計劃不斷在中國投資，皇家加勒比本週表示，該公司正着眼於在中國建立幹船塢和物流中心，以便爲自己部署在中國的遊輪提供服務。同時，該公司正在考慮推出新旅遊項目，目的是讓數以千計的北美遊客乘遊輪來中國旅遊。

While China is still Royal Caribbean’s No. 3 market, after the U.S. and Europe, it is clear executives see the Middle Kingdom as a major growth engine.

雖然中國仍是皇家加勒比的第三大市場，排在美國和歐洲之後，但該公司顯然已將中國視爲主要增長引擎。

“Potential growth here is greater than the U.S. market,” Michael Bayley, president and chief executive of Royal Caribbean’s international operations, told the Wall Street Journal in Beijing earlier this week.

最近，皇家加勒比總裁兼CEO邁克爾o貝利在北京接受《華爾街日報》採訪時表示：“中國市場的增長潛力超過美國。”