with revenues of 3.1 billion euros and 2.3 million total guests in 2011, costa crociere s.p.a. is the largest italian travel group and europe’s n.1 cruise company, comprising the brands costa cruises, aida cruises and iberocruceros. the group is headquartered in genoa.costa crociere s.p.a has europe’s largest fleet: 27 ships with total guest capacity of around 68,000. the ships in service for costa cruises and aida cruises fly the italian flag, while those operating for iberocruceros fly the portuguese flag. the group’s ships are deployed in the mediterranean, northern europe, the baltic sea, the caribbean, central america, south america, the united arab emirates, the far east, the red sea, round the world cruises and grand cruises. costa crociere s.p.a. is a member of carnival corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise operator. 4 more new ships are set to enter service for the group by 2016. by virtue of these further ａｄｄition and based on the current size of the fleet, the number of fleet members will reach the 31 ships in 2016. in order to bring about this growth, back in 2000 the costa crociere group launched a 11 billion euro fleet expansion program which is due for completion in 2016.costa cruises is europe’s no.1 cruise company, in terms of both the size of the fleet and the total number of guests carried, with more than 60 years of maritime passenger service experience. costa cruises is also the first large international cruise company authorized to operate in the chinese market and depart from the ｃｏｕｎｔry’s ports.costa cruises has the largest fleet on the continent: 15 ships with a capacity of about 41,000 total guests. another new ship is on order, with ｄｅｌivery in october 2014. costa fleet will reach 16 ships and a capacity of about 46,000 total guests.each year costa’s ships offer the chance to visit some 250 separate destinations with and over 130 different itineraries. excursions available are a total of over 2,200, of which around 300 eco-tourism excursions, comprising visits to parks, oases and nature reserves, with programs that minimize the impact on the ecosystem and ｃｒｅａｔｅ economic opportunities for the local communitiescosta cruises is rina certified with the b.e.s.t. 4 (business excellence sustainable task), an integrated system of voluntary certification of corporate compliance with the highest international standards involving:social acｃｏｕｎｔability (sa 8000, issued in 2008, thanks to the first voluntary pilot program in themaritime industry).environment (uni en iso 14001, issued in 2004),safety (ohsas 18001, issued in 2007)quality (uni en iso 9001, issued in 2008).costa cruises is also the first company in the world that was awarded by rina with the voluntary “green star” notation for the whole fleet. the assignment of the green star means that rina has certified that all costa’s vessels are operated in an environmentally responsible manner and help protect the air and sea in the areas where they sail. the green star notation is based on the highest environmental protection standards for the prevention of pollution of the marine environment and it is actually stricter than the prevailing provisions of the international marpol convention.costa cruises is an international company, headquartered in genoa, with offices in 14 different nations including italy: genoa, paris, madrid, barcelona, hamburg, linz, zurich, brussels, lisbon, miami, buenos aires, sao paulo, rio de janeiro, manila, la romana (dominican republic), hong kong, shanghai.the company can ｃｏｕｎｔ on its young and international staff: 80％ of its more than 19,000 employees – 18,000 on board and 1,000 shoreside – are under 40 and they come from 70 different ｃｏｕｎｔries.costa cruises currently has 9 training schools located all over the world. in 2011 costa training schools provided 765,000 hours of training to 111,000 attendees. they are based in: genoa headquarters, almere (ｎｅｔherlands), which is a maritime training center for officers, brazil, vietnam, philippines, india, peru, indonesia, china. they are run directly or as joint ventures with leading local universities. furthermore the company also has a team of mobile instructors, ready to guarantee costa training in chile, argentina, guatemala, south korea, thailandia, and a training center on each ship of its fleet.in 2011 the customer satisfaction results showed that 98％ of guests were satisfied.costa cruises works with about 80,000 travel agencies all over the world.in 2000 costa cruises embarked on a fleet expansion program entailing an investment of about 6 billion euros over 14 years for 16 ships.