Market penetration reaches 4.2% – the biggest in the world.
More than one million Australian passengers took a cruise last year, with the milestone reached more than five years earlier than the previous forecasts of 2020.
Cruise Lines International Association Australasia (CLIA) has just released its 2014 cruise industry statistics, with yet another record year reflecting the ongoing growth of the Australasian cruise sector.
The total tally was 1,003,256 – up a hefty 20.4% – and the South Pacific the most popular destination, with 39% of Australians taking a cruise through the region.
Australia now makes up 4.5% of the total global cruise market, CLIA gm Brett Jardine told attendees at the formal launch of the statistics.
River cruising also showed stellar growth, with almost 80,000 Australian passengers last year, up a whopping 62%.
“Five years ago, the industry thought that it might be possible to achieve one million passengers a year by 2020 – to reach that number in 2014 is an amazing result and shows the true passion Australians have for cruise holidays,” said CLIA chairman Gavin Smith.
“If our growth rate continues at just 12.5% for the next six years, we will reach two million passengers by 2020,” he said.
More details in today’s issues of Cruise Weekly and Travel Daily.