Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia has welcomed the findings of CLIA’s global annual State of the Cruise Industry report, showing that Australia remains one of the fastest growing cruise markets and most popular cruise destinations in the world.
CLIA President and CEO Christine Duffy said the statistics showed an estimated 21.3 million passengers cruised on CLIA’s 63 member lines in 2013, with the organisation predicting a positive year of growth ahead with a 2014 passenger forecast of 21.7 million.
To meet this growing demand, CLIA’s cruise member lines will introduce 24 new ships in 2014-2015 adding a total passenger capacity of 37,546. Globally, the 2014 CLIA fleet is comprised of 410 ships, up from 393 ships last year.
While North America remains the world’s biggest cruise market (55 per cent passenger source share), Australia is ranked in the top five with a 3.6 per cent market share.
According to the global CLIA report, the burgeoning Australian market has grown more than 130 per cent in the past five years, with only the Scandinavia and Finland region recording a higher growth rate (184 per cent). More details in the table on the following page.
Australasia also sits among the top four cruise destinations in terms of ship deployments with Australia and New Zealand accounting for 6 per cent of all global itineraries, behind the Caribbean (37 per cent), the Mediterranean (19 per cent) and Northern Europe (11 per cent).
CLIA Australasia General Manager Brett Jardine said the latest figures underlined Australia’s important position on the world cruise scene.
“Cruising just keeps going from strength to strength down under and we look forward to another big year ahead,” Mr Jardine said.
After its first successful year as a global association serving as the voice and advocate of the worldwide cruise industry, CLIA has increased its presence in Europe with additional associations established in German and Spain. Italy will follow later in 2014.
Ms Duffy said a key factor in the cruise industry’s growth was its travel agent partners and stressed CLIA’s commitment to its more than 13,500 global travel agency members who reached over 50,000 agent members.
CLIA Australasia will release its 2013 Australian and New Zealand passenger statistics later in the year.
For more information visit www.cruising.org.au in Australia and www.cruising.org.nz in New Zealand.
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