2017 has been another positive year for cruise industry, with a significant passenger growth, according to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). In its recently-released cruise industry numbers for the year, CLIA said the industry has surpassed the 2017 ocean cruise passenger projections, reaching 26.7 million passengers globally up from a projection of 25.8 million.
Growth and volume by region
- North America represented the largest ocean passenger volume in 2017 (49% ) with a total of more than 13 million ocean cruise passengers followed by Europe (26%) with nearly seven million ocean cruise passengers.
- The US and Canada saw impressive ocean passenger growth in 2017 with a 5% increase over the prior year.
- Asia, accounting for about 15% of total global ocean passenger volume in 2017, experienced a 20.5% increase last year in comparison to 2016.
- Australia also experienced some positive growth at around 5%.
- Europe also remains strong with recording a 2.5% global passenger growth over 2016.
–>North America (49%)
–>Europe (26%)
–>Asia (15%)
–>Australia/Pacific (5.4%)
–>South Central America (3.2%)
–>Other (1.6%)
Demographics
New analytics also reveal the average age of global ocean passengers last year was 47 years old. These passengers also preferred cruising for an average of 7.2 days, 2% lower than the average cruise length in 2016.
The future
For 2018, based on the new vessel launch schedule and expected regional deployment, CLIA is projecting another positive year-over-year growth for the industry with a passenger forecast of 28 million.
