2.5. Market Segments and Travel Duration/Season
There has been given a great emphasis with focus on the variation of supply since 60’s. Cruise travel was shaped
for mass tourism. Prices have been very differently segmented. There are basically four types of markets
(Biedermann, 2008):
Contemporary market: On board fun and amenities are playing important role and destinations have secondary
importance.
Premium market: This category is more expensive than the contemporary category and where the destination has
same importance as on board amenities.
Luxury market: It was once dominant type of cruise tourism, but now it has only a small portion of the industry.
Generally, it is the most expensive cruise category and usually it takes longer than average cruise days.
Adventure/exploration: It refers relatively long cruises with special and exotic places where the destination is the
main purpose of the trip.
European cruise travel duration takes more five days than North American travel duration. There is a tendency on
European market during the last years that duration of travel is getting shorter. This short duration tendency is
explained with the strong demand of costumers (Hensen, 2003). Beside this, it is most likely that cruise companies
try to convince tourists with short haul travels instead of long term cruise trips for more expenditure