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Travel Counsellors reports continued upturn in cruise demand

Travel Counsellors has reported continued growth in demand for cruise holidays, with the sector currently accounting for 16% of its leisure sales.

The company said overall cruise sales were up 4% against 2019 levels, with luxury cruise demand driving the growth with sales up 41%.

The most popular lines over the past seven days were Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Scenic, it said.

Head of cruise Janet Whittingham said recent easing of travel rules had helped boost long-term confidence with a 63% week-on-week increase in forward bookings for summer 2022 and beyond.

Whittingham described the changes as “a step forward” which had made cruising “more accessible”.

“The new travel system will make it a lot clearer to the travelling public which countries and cruises they can book a holiday to,” she said.

“We are experiencing considerable interest in cruise. ‘Seacations’ this year have proven to be a huge success in attracting a new market to cruises and full credit to the cruise lines for pivoting to meet this demand.”

Whittingham predicted that customer demand for the sector would remain strong with the US travel ban due to be lifted next month.

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