He made this forecast in an overview of the cruise industry that forms part of Carnival’s annual cruise report.

Dingle predicts that new environmental legislation will force cruise lines to adapt the way they operate. According to him, Carnival UK has already taken steps over the past couple of years to reduce fuel consumption. These measures were largely successful and the company managed to slash fuel consumption by 5% a year for the past two years.

This was largely achieved by cutting the average speed at which the company’s ships travel. This often meant an extra day at sea and sometimes unnecessary port visits had to be eliminated.

Dingle continued: “This has, for instance, encouraged us to feature more ports closer to home, most notably on our one-week cruises.”

According to him this has resulted in an increased number of cruises that focus specifically on Portugal, Spain, France and Norway. He added that, although Carnival took their passengers to a huge selection of exciting international destinations, the top destination remained their ships.

Dingle went on to say that while Carnival wholeheartedly supported the environmental effort, lawmakers had to be careful not to kill the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs. He hoped that the important contribution the cruise industry makes to the UK economy would be better recognised in future.