Gallery: Clia Cruise Forum
Clia UK & Ireland’s chairman has urged agents to tap into the 10 million Brits that have “the ability” to cruise – but warned that Brexit is knocking consumer confidence.
Speaking at the Clia Winter Forum, Tony Roberts, who is also Princess Cruises’ vice president for UK and Europe, revealed that the number of British cruise passengers in 2018 looked set to exceed the coveted two-million mark.
Clia had forecast it would reach two million passengers by 2020, which Roberts said would be a “bumper year” due to the number of ships scheduled for delivery.
He said: “There are indications that there are 10 million people in the UK that have the ability to take a cruise within the next 10 years. There is untapped potential.
“We have got a shared goal in this industry and we are working together to get more people cruising.”
However, Roberts said the looming spectre of Brexit was having “an influence” on consumer confidence, causing it to “dip”.
“There are some challenging times coming up,” he said. “There is an uncertain political landscape and things seem to be changing on a daily basis – and it is having an impact on consumer confidence.
“We are in a great position but we have to recognise that consumer confidence is on the down and that inevitably these things are going to have an effect on people’s travel plans.
“All this sort of talks gets people thinking that maybe this is not the time to go on holiday. It is up to us to make sure that we are working together to manage that.”
Roberts called for the industry to continue working with destinations to ensure there was sustainable and beneficial relationship between cruise passengers and communities at the destination.
“We need to working as an collaboration with local authorities and communities to make sure that we can continue to provide an amazing experience in these communities for not only our guests but also those communities,” he said.
Gallery: Clia Cruise Forum
More: ‘Pause’ in cruise sales predicted amid Brexit uncertainty