Guidelines for Cruise Ship Industry's Practice of Overbooking

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Trade and Industry whether the Government will consider regulating or introducing guidelines for the practice of overbooking by cruises operators for the protection of consumers.

Overbooking is a common practice in the global cruise industry. Cruise operators allow some bookings above their capacity in anticipation of cancellations and no shows. This allows cruise operators to make more sailing date options available for consumers, avoiding situations where fully booked sailings are not available for sale and yet there are empty cabins due to cancellations or no-shows. In addition, if cruise operators are not able to balance the impact of cancellations and no-shows on their revenue through overbooking, this may result in higher cruise fares to account for the revenue loss.

Importantly, when consumers are affected, it is the duty of cruise operators to offer adequate compensation or reschedule the bookings.

So far, all affected passengers in Singapore have been compensated by cruise operators. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will continue to engage cruise lines to ensure that this practice is carried out responsibly and the high standards of cruise experiences from Singapore is maintained.