Northern Europe holds increasing allure for UK cruise passengers looking to book a no-fly cruise, in a record year for the UK cruise market.
Latest figures from CLIA UK & Ireland show that 2013 was another record year for the UK cruise market, with continued growth and port embarkations passing the one-million mark for the first time.
The number of British and overseas passengers joining their cruise at a UK port grew 10% to 1,062,000 in 2013, whilst the number of British passengers taking an ocean cruise also continued to increase with an additional 25,000 (1.5%) in 2013.
The UK retains pole position as Europe’s biggest cruise market, accounting for 27% of cruise passengers.
Destination winners include Northern Europe – now the destination of choice for one in three British passengers. A cruise in the Mediterranean remained the most popular holiday choice for cruising Brits, accounting for 644,000 of them, but for Norway alone the number of passengers joining a ship at a UK port has increased five-fold from 37,000 to 218,000 over the past decade – making it more popular than the Mediterranean for ex-UK cruisers.
There was a 20% increase in cruise passengers to Northern Europe in 2013; numbers for the Med fell by 8%. Were the trend to continue in 2014 Northern Europe will overtake the Mediterranean as the leading cruise destination for UK cruise passengers since the inception of cruising two centuries ago.
The increasing popularity of no-fly cruising however, coupled with crippling APD (air passenger duty) to the region and the impact of higher fuel costs has put the traditional Caribbean fly-cruise holiday out of reach for some. There were nearly 100,000 fewer fly cruises there in 2013 compared with 2009, in spite of the fact that one in every two cruises sold last year cost less than £1,000.
Despite a record year for British cruising the number of first-time cruisers dropped by 4%, which has contributed to an increase in the average passenger age, to 57. “Numbers of first-time cruisers have been volatile in recent years as cruise companies have marketed even more strongly to past passengers,” said a spokesperson for CLIA.
Demand for river cruising continues to soar with 20,000 Britons choosing a European river cruise in 2013, taking the total to almost 110,000 passengers. Twenty-seven ships were introduced in 2012-2013 and a further 24 are on order.
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