Booking volume at Carnival Corp. brands, excluding Costa, declined "in the mid-teens" following the Costa Concordia’s grounding off the coast of Italy on Jan. 13, the company said in a regulatory filing.
It stated that across nine brands, bookings “bottomed out” on Jan. 16. Carnival Corp. said that Costa’s booking activity since the grounding, in which 16 people are confirmed dead and another 16 remain missing, is “down significantly.”
“Costa's booking activity is difficult to interpret because of the significant re-booking activity stemming from the loss of the ship's use and related redeployments,” according to the Jan. 30 report..
Despite the bookings drop, Carnival Corp. said it does not believe the Concordia incident will have a significant long-term impact on business.
It does, however, “anticipate other financial impacts to our business, including lower net revenue yields, that are not possible to reasonably determine at this time.”
Carnival said full-year profits are expected to be reduced by $155 million to $175 million, due to the loss of the Concordia from the fleet, insurance deductibles and other costs.
The report stated that Carnival Corp. will provide a revised guidance for full-year earnings in March.
Follow Donna Tunney on Twitter @dttravelweekly.