Confidence in cruise holidays remains high for next year despite latest government advice around testing and travel due to fears over the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
However, the vast majority of those who said that they would be cruising in 2022 said that they were waiting until the new year to book, according to a poll by specialist agency Panache Cruises.
The company asked its 15,000-strong customer base whether they are thinking of cruising in 2022.
More than 3,000 responses were received within the following 24-hours, with the majority continuing to want to cruise next year, despite the current situation with the Omicron variant.
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Seventy per cent of those asked replied ‘yes’ in their feedback, with 22% stating ‘maybe’ and only 8% saying ‘no’.
Only a very small percentage of those saying no cited the variant as a major factor in their decision, according to the company.
Panache Cruises founder and managing director James Cole said: “There continues to be a massive appetite to cruise, and we can only hope that when the current hysteria over the new variant dies down and more facts are known, bookings will return.”
The company, established in July 2020 in the early stages of the pandemic, has achieved sales of more than £5 million, despite a ban on international travel for much of the time it has been trading.
Cole added that a great deal of the success to date is down to the close personal relationships it is building with its customer base.
“During the time we have been trading we have developed close relationships with our customers, and they have become highly responsive when we ask for feedback,” he said.
“It’s great that we can very quickly gauge customer sentiment, especially in these volatile times.”
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