News

THE UK cruise industry managed to keep its growth on course last year despite the impact of September 11.

Latest figures from the Passenger Shipping Association show the industry was up 2.4% on 2000, with 893,000 ocean and river customers compared to 872,000. The rise would have been 7% if September’s attacks had not occurred.

This compared favourably with the biggest cruise market in the US, which only managed a 0.3% growth. The US was a record 17% up in 2000.

Unveiling the 2001 Annual Cruise Review, PSA director Bill Gibbons said: “Given September 11, we did well. Prices have come down, but a cruise is still an aspirational holiday and people are taking them as their main holiday.”

The major destination for UK cruisers is still the Mediterranean. Flycruises, which account for 71% of all UK itineraries, helped Mediterranean bookings increase 16.5% to 271,000 passengers last year.

Caribbean trips were down 1.5% at 139,000 bookings and Alaska was down 9.5% at 16,000. The PSA said the pair appeared to have lost their exotic appeal to new cruise destinations including the Far East, Australia, Atlantic islands and the Baltic. The big loser last year was the short cruise market out of Cyprus. This was down 37% due to concerns over sailing to the Middle East, especially Israel.

The downturn in the cheaper short cruise option helped push UK cruise revenue to £885 million last year, up from £815 million the previous year. For river cruising, the Nile with 34,000 bookings and the Rhine with 30,000 led the way.

Long term, cruising growth is expected to continue due to increased capacity with the addition of new ships.

Gibbons said the industry expected to see a 60% rise in bookings between 2000 and 2009.

However, the PSA is not complacent and, in response to lingering concerns that cruising is still expensive, it has released

figures that show the cost of a trip compares favourably with a traditional land-based holiday.