The International Cruise Industry: Globalnological, Legal, And External Environments

The globalisation of consumer desires, the development of an open global economy and the relentless expansion of the internet, have all contributed to connecting nations’ economies (Doole and Lowe, 2008). Consequently, worldwide, managers are increasingly recognising the importance for their businesses to advance through developing their skills, knowledge and ability to effectively compete against international markets (Doole and Lowe, 2008). According to Cateora and Ghauri (1999), internationalisation is the expansion of a business that leads the spread of an organisations products and services to customers in more than one nation, in order to gain profit. International marketing is suggested to go beyond merely establishing business across national boundaries, as it requires the application, orientation and adaptation to international marketing environments (Keegan, 2002). These external marketing environments come in the form of political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental. This essay intends to discuss and critique, in regards to international marketing, the changes that the international cruise industry is experiencing. The essay will also address how marketers are strategically responding to the changes in the external environments and what new opportunities

This could negatively impact the industry’s economy because it may have to increase the cost of cruises to cover the increased fuel prices (Kamery, 2004). In 2014, due to surplus of domestic oil in Texas and North Dakota, the price of fuel dropped which was a great economic benefit for the cruise industry (Stieghorst, 2014). With the decrease in fuel expenditures, Norwegian Cruise Line invested the saved expenses into product improvements and tactical marketing initiatives. This saw extra customer service training programmes for their employees and new culinary programmes (Stieghorst,