The Expedition Cruise Network (ECN) has found member companies are growing engagement with the UK trade, alongside a newfound focus on warm water destinations.
At its inaugural conference, Akvile Marozaite, ECN chief executive, insisted trade support from expedition cruising “has never been stronger”.
“If you look in the last couple of years, it’s quite interesting to see how [expedition cruise] companies either increase their UK market presence or boost their sales teams, invest into more sophisticated digital support tools, enabling travel trade to sell this product better,” she said.
“We’re also seeing more fam trips and ship visits and trade-friendly webinars. We recognise that product knowledge of expedition cruise specifically is something that is really needed, and that’s how we are seeing our expedition cruise operators are supporting the trade.”
She added that ECN anticipated roughly 25,000 to 35,000 UK guests travel on board expedition ships annually, and according to its annual insights report, a UK customer typically spends £8,000 to £500,000 per person on an expedition cruise.
These figures led ECN to calculate the expedition cruise business in the UK to be valued at between £200 million to £280 million annually.
ECN chair and co-founder Martin Johnson revealed the results of the network’s latest survey of its members, which found the UK trade generates between 45% and 98% of booking for its 26 expedition cruise company members, with some “relying exclusively” on agents.
Johnson described the expedition cruise business in the UK as “buoyant”, with all members responding to the survey reporting UK business from the trade either growing or maintaining last year’s levels.
Business growth rates were reported by members to be between 5% and 40%, with one operator recording an “exponential growth rate” higher than that.
Looking ahead, Johnson said Antarctica, Svalbard, Alaska and Greenland were “tipped for the most growth ahead” by ECN members into 2025.
While this “may not be massively surprising” given expedition cruises’ history in polar regions, he added: “The survey really proves how diverse expedition cruise industry is. Warm weather expedition cruise has only just begun to light the touchpaper of consumers’ imagination and enthusiasm, and despite the appetite for cold water expeditions, warm waters are also deemed to see strong growth in 2025.”
The Galapagos Islands will see “renewed growth” next year following a dip in 2024 after a state of emergency was declared on mainland Ecuador, and new itineraries to South and East Africa, the Seychelles and the Pacific were mentioned as “prominent destinations” for next year.
The survey also found the average booking window for a UK consumer booking an expedition cruise was nine months and the average price was £7,300, slightly down from the last autumn survey when the figure was £8,000.
Johnson added there was “a range of booking behaviours” reported by members, with some seeing bookings made as little as 30 days out from departure, while two-year booking windows were “not uncommon”.
The survey revealed that some expedition cruise lines had repeat guest rates as high as 40% to 50%, generally related to those with a worldwide programme.
ECN members hosted an average of 32 travel professionals on board this year, with one hosting 150 in total.
Alongside its 26 expedition cruise operator members it has added since its founding in April 2023, the network now also has more than 1,500 travel trade members including travel agents, tour operators, travel designers, product, marketing, and professionals supporting sales of expedition cruises.
ECN members include AE Expeditions, Albatros Expeditions, Atlas Ocean Voyages, Aranui Cruises, Antara Cruises, Antarpply Expeditions, Australis Expeditions, Aqua Expeditions, Coral Expeditions, Golden Galapagos, Hapag Lloyd Cruises, Heritage Expeditions, HX Hurtigruten Expeditions, Lindblad Expeditions, Maple Leaf Adventures, Metropolitan Touring, Oceanwide Expeditions, Polar Latitudes, Ponant, Poseidon Expeditions, Quark Expeditions, Scenic, Secret Atlas, Silversea, Swan Hellenic and UnCruise Adventures.