Australians continue love of cruising

The Australian cruise market saw growth in 2018, with a total of 1.35 million Australians taking an ocean cruise during the year, a slight increase on the 2017 record figure. In statistics released by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), it was revealed that growth slowed to just 0.9 per cent year-on-year, due to capacity constraints associated with a shortage of berthing infrastructure in Sydney. The result still showed a higher number of Australians choosing a cruising holiday than ever before with nearly one in every 17 Australians, or 5.8 per cent of the population, taking a cruise last year, giving Australia the highest market penetration rate of the world’s major established cruise markets. The majority of Australians cruised within Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific (76.6%). Europe/Mediterranean was the most popular long-haul destination (8.1%).