The spectacular cruise liner accident off the coast of Italy is not just a disaster for the ship's owners, but could inflict wider damage on an industry already facing stiff headwinds. The Costa Concordia, with more than 4,000 people on board, flipped on its side after hitting a rock on Friday night close to the beautiful island of Giglio, off Italy's west coast.
At least three people died in the accident. The luxury 114,500-tonne ship was operated by Costa Crociere, a unit of Carnival Corporation & Plc, the world's largest cruise company. The stricken vessel was one of the group's main assets in the lucrative European cruise market.
"This is a PR (public relations) nightmare for the Costa brand," said Jaime Katz, equity analyst from investment research company Morningstar in Chicago.
"The question is, when that's been stripped out, whether the Carnival brand will be tarnished." The accident could hardly have come at a worse time for the group, with the global economic crisis already making potential cruise customers nervous about their jobs and finances.
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