The US and British source markets are driving bookings for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd’s (RCCL) cruises in Europe, while the company sees return to China next year, company officials said in a conference call.

“We have seen improved booking trends for these itineraries so far in Wave, particularly from the U.S. and the UK,” said Naftali Holtz Chief Financial Officer of the Miami based company.

“We expect the improvement to continue, supported by our global sourcing model. Constant currency net yields are expected to be higher than 2019 in all four quarters with more growth for Q2 through Q4, when load factors return to normal,” he said, adding that the group would have 17% of its capacity in Europe this year.

Michael Bayley, President and Chief Executive Officer of the group’s Royal Caribbean International contemporary market unit, said the environment in China had improved significantly. “So, things have started to normalize, and they seem to have got over that very difficult period,” he said.

There are currently two impediments to the China cruise market opening up. “One of them is there's still a ban technically on cruising and group travel in China. And also, there's a requirement from the Japanese that Chinese tourists have to test and potentially could be quarantined. We understand that both of these conditions will drop away at some point during this first half,” Bayley said.

“That's what we've been led to believe, and we believe that that's going to happen. As soon as those two conditions change, then obviously, the market will reopen, and we're thinking that it will be late '23, and we're kind of thinking that '24 probably, realistically, the China market will be back. But, obviously, that's based upon how we understand and see the situation currently,” he stated.