One of the world’s most promising cruise markets may not be back until 2023 or 2024, according to the President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, Michael Bayley.

“We’ve had some phenomenal years in the China market, and we’ve had a very successful operation there,” said Bayley, on the company’s first quarter earnings call.

“The volatilities existed in all markets for the past two years, including China. I think it’s regretful that the China market is still not accessible to us. And I think our current thinking was that in 2023, we would be back in the China market. I’m not sure whether that’ll come true or not it could be 2024, but we’re ready to go. And we’re looking forward to returning to the market,” he continued.

Predicting a 2023 or 2024 return, company executives had previously hoped to be back in early 2022 following the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

“I think when you look at the region of Asia-Pacific, it’s always been a meaningful market for Royal Caribbean Group,” continued Bayley. “And our intention is to return to that market and to leverage the opportunities that we have.

“We’ve spent time building our brand in China. In our space, we’re a very well-known brand, we’re very liked, and we have very good consumer following with the Royal Caribbean International brand. And we think that when the market opens back up, we’ll be able to re access the market and get back to business. And that’s exactly what we’re thinking.”