Number of Brits cruising will continue to grow, says PSA report

The number of Britons cruising will continue to grow but at a slower pace than in the past few years, Passenger Shipping Association director Bill Gibbons has predicted.

Releasing the PSA’s Annual Cruise Review for 2008, published today, Gibbons said while the dramatic growth of the past years was likely to subside due to the recession, the PSA was confident of continued passenger growth due to the number of ships launching next year for the British market, but also because cruising offers such good value.

Next year P&O Cruises’ Azura, Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth and Celebrity Cruises’ Equinox, the cruiseline’s first vessel dedicated to the UK, will all start sailing for the UK market.

Gibbons said one-third of all cruises last year cost under £1,000, and clients can expect better value in 2009 as a result of the massive discounts cruiselines have introduced to try to make sure cruise passengers continue to buy during the recession.

Just under 1.5 million Britons took a cruise last summer, making it the third successive year of double-digit growth. The number of passengers cruising from the UK rose by 140,000, and the number of ships visiting the UK topped 100 for the first time. Average cruise length was 10.4 nights, up from 9.7 nights, a result of more people taking longer cruises from the UK.

In all, one in every 12 foreign package holidays booked in the UK last year was a cruise, a huge switch from a decade ago, when cruises accounted for one in every 26 package holidays booked.

The figures also show that northern Europe overtook the Caribbean to become Brits’ second favourite cruise destination after the Mediterranean.

Overall, the region, combining the Norwegian fjord, Baltic and western Europe, attracted 265,000 UK passengers, a 24% increase on 2007.

Alaska cruise numbers fell for the first time in five years, while the number of Brits cruising the Red Sea, Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean halved. Numbers are expected to pick up again in 2010, when Royal Caribbean starts cruising from Dubai.

Highlights of the report include:

• An 18% increase in cruise bednights booked by UK passengers who chose to cruise for longer in 2008.
• An 11% increase in UK cruisers, bringing the total close to 1.5 million cruise passengers.
• Four out of every 10 cruises booked started in a UK port – a share expected to increase in 2010 with the arrival of three new ships based in Southampton, and one summer deployment becoming year-round
• One in every 12 package holidays booked in the UK is now a cruise; it was one in 26 in 1999.
• UK-booked cruise per diem prices fell more than 1% in 2008. More than a third of all cruises cost less than £1,000.
• The Mediterranean remains the favourite cruise destination for Britons, but northern/western Europe overtook the Caribbean to be second favourite in 2008.