Cruise firms spend big

THE battle over Australia’s booming cruise market has been played out in the national media, with cruise lines and retailers now among the biggest-spending advertisers in the travel industry.

Figures from media and data company Nielsen show cruise entities are now spending tens of millions of dollars on advertising, primarily in metropolitan newspapers and on television.

Online retailer Imagine Cruising is now the biggest advertiser in the Australian travel sector, having spent almost $53.7 million in the past year, almost entirely in metropolitan newspapers.

It was followed by tour & river cruise operators APT & Scenic, which spent $29.3 million and $24.5 million respectively, including almost $4m each on TV.

Royal Caribbean Cruises was the biggest spender among ocean cruise lines, spending $13.2 million, & was followed by Cruise 1st with a budget of $7.8m.

The Nielsen figures are based on rack-rate equivalents and do not include volume discounts.

They cover a period of almost one year, from 04 Jun 2017 to 19 May 2018.

Other top 10 spenders over the period included Viking Cruises ($7.6m), P&O Cruises Australia ($6.5m), Cruiseco ($5.5m), Princess Cruises ($4.5m) and Carnival Cruise Line ($4.5m).