ONBOARD THE VIKING STAR —
Viking Cruises chairman Torstein Hagen provided details on a new venture,
the operation of European river cruises for Chinese passengers.
He said Viking would devote at least two of its river ships
to the venture, which will make its first cruise on the Rhine River on Nov. 10.
The development of a Chinese source market for river cruises
comes partly in response to a slowdown in demand in 2016 from Viking’s prime
market in North America, which suppled 88% of its nearly 500,000 passengers in
2015.
“For 2017, we’re only building two ships, and quite frankly
when we look at the way the market is, it has been a bit slow, and I think
everybody’s seen that,” Hagen said.
Hagen said the two river ships have been redesigned for
Mandarin speakers. “There will be top-notch Chinese food, only Mandarin spoken …
and this could be a big market, too. It will have nothing to do with ships we
have for the North American market, but it is a way of continuing to grow the
company.”
Jeff Dash, a Viking executive who has spearheaded the new
product, said the concept of developing river cruises for Chinese guests has
been in the works since 2009 but was “sidetracked” by Viking’s decision to
launch an ocean cruise line.
He said the outbound tourism market from China surpassed the
U.S. in 2013 to become the largest in the world.
“The number of Chinese nationals going to Europe will be the
same size or larger as the number of Americans gong to Europe by 2020,” Dash
said. But there are few places in Europe that make Chinese guests fully
comfortable, he said.
“We realized we had the chance for a paradigm shift and to
lead the way. If we call a river ship a hotel that just happens to move, we
will be the first 100% Mandarin-speaking hotel in Europe.”
From the ground up, all the signage is done in Mandarin, right
down to the toiletries, Dash said. There will be several regional Chinese
cuisines served, each with its own chef.
The concept will be more high-end than the English-speaking
river cruises. For example, there will be an option for a $30,000 shore
excursion that offers a rented private jet to fly anywhere in Europe.
There will be eight guides on the cruise; each will lead a
group of 25 guests.
“This will be a trend-setter,” Dash said. He said the 10-night
cruise will go from Amsterdam to Basel with an overnight on the ship in
Amsterdam to start, and three nights in Basel on the ship at the end.
Cruises will also be offered on the Danube River in 2017.
Dash said there has been some discussion of offering the
cruises to Chinese guests in North America, particularly those from Vancouver and Los
Angeles, but there is concern about offering two different river products to
North Americans.