Anni Ahola

Creating a Consumer-driven Business Model for the Cruise Line Industry: Case Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd. Anni Ahola

The purpose of this study is to figure out a new kind of a cruise line business model that can be used by cruise line organizations in their business planning processes. The objective is to find out general frameworks and theories from the literature that could be applied to the empirical part of the study. Mainly, the goal is to examine tourism growth, current cruise line business, consumer behavior and service industry in order to form this business model especially for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd. (RCCL). One of the most significant things is to examine people's requirements and needs towards tourism, cruise lines and service industry, since they reflect to the business planning and strategy making that eventually lead to competitive advantages in the markets. China and Russia are taken as case country examples, so the model developed through the literature part of the study is used, generating specific results and proposed business models for these countries. The study is consumer-driven since it takes the cultural factors into account together with general patterns in those markets.