Top cruise suburbs revealed

FLIGHT Centre’s recently released ‘Postcodes and Postcards’ report features some intriguing insights into the travel patterns of Australian cruisers.

The study collates data from across the various Flight Centre leisure brands also including Cruiseabout and Escape Travel, and indicates that the most popular months to purchase a cruise are Jan, Feb and Oct - good timing given that Oct coincides with CLIA Australasia’s annual Plan a Cruise month promotion.

The key months to travel on a cruise are Sep and Dec, and in 2016 the most popular length of cruise for Aussie travellers was 14 days to NZ and seven days in the USA.

The most popular destination was New Caledonia, and the suburb which booked the most cruises was Rouse Hill, NSW, followed by Qld’s Hervey Bay.

The western Sydney suburb of Campbelltown was the third biggest source of cruisers, followed by Caloundra, Runaway Bay and Victoria Point in Qld.

NSW suburbs rounded out the top 10 biggest cruise bookers, with Bateau Bay, Wyong and Gosford on the Central Coast coming in seventh, eighth and ninth - followed by Blacktown.

Among Flight Centre’s cruising customers the average age of holidaymakers is 53, and they usually travel with a partner.

“More than 1.2 million Australians from all backgrounds had a holiday cruise in 2016, and hundreds of thousands of them booked through Flight Centre,” the company said.

More than 50% of people who booked a cruise via Flight Centre this year indicated they intended to book another cruise within the next 12 months.