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Cruisestat - Annual Cruise Holiday Market Digest UK & Europe 2008
IRN Research, Jan 2008, Pages: 33
In 2008, the 50th anniversary year of the Passenger Shipping Association (PSA), the continued growth of the UK cruise market is proof of the strength, resilience and innovation of an industry which – according to a 2006 study - contributed more than £1.42bn and generated more than 29,000 jobs for the UK economy.
An 11% increase in cruise bookings in 2007 followed 12% growth in 2006. Set against a background of rising economic problems hitting people where
it hurts most - in their pockets - this has been a remarkable achievement. In fact, those very economic problems appear simply to have highlighted
the strong value proposition of the cruise holiday against most land-based alternatives.
There is no sign of an end to the cruising boom in the UK and we confidently expect more than 1.5m to book a cruise in 2008 and anticipate 2 million UK holidaymakers will be cruising within four years. The UK is the largest source market in Europe accounting for 34% of European passengers, followed by Germany (19%), Italy (16%), Spain (13%) and France (7%). Passenger growth across Europe overall in 2007 was 17%. And there was significant growth in all markets reflecting the broad appeal of cruising.
But this growth in cruising's popularity, which has seen it double its share of the UK overseas package holiday market in 10 years, has not just happened.
It has been driven by the investment in new ships and new UK and Europe focused itineraries not just by home-based cruise lines but also by those previously concentrated on the North American market.
Some of the newest, largest and most innovative ships are now cruising out of UK and European ports while the 4m-plus British and European passengers now also have an unprecedented range of increasingly exotic flycruise options from which to choose.
With 44 new ships costing a combined £12bn on order through to 2012, this range can only increase and continue to broaden the appeal of cruising.
More families are already choosing to cruise and the average age of British cruise passengers fell to its lowest-ever level in 2007.
In real terms, the average price of a cruise has not increased in a decade with a summer cruise in 2007 costing just £10 more than in 2005. This price stability helps to explain the level of pent-up demand which saw one in every two passengers in 2007 booking their cruises more than six months ahead and nearly one in five more than a year ahead.
Travel agents remain the major distribution network for cruise companies and many more agents are now specialising in cruise sales. The PSA's
agency training arm Ace (Association of Cruise Experts) has been completely revamped to ensure it is offering the right level of support for this much-expanded marketplace.
With its agency membership growing 45% to more than 7,000 in 2007, ACE re-launched its website and its accreditation scheme through the Elite Training Academy. It set up four online training courses and eight new modules were launched last month (May) to coincide with the second annual ACE convention for agents in Southampton.
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