The UK remains Europe’s largest cruise passenger market as it was revealed more Europeans booked a cruise than ever in 2013.
A record 6.35 million Europeans booked a cruise in 2013, 4% higher than 2012 and double the number compared to eight years ago.
The UK is Europe’s strongest source market with more than 1.7m passengers with the German, Italian and French markets all seeing increases in residents taking a cruise.
Four out of five Europeans choose to cruise in Europe with the Mediterranean the most popular region.
Pierfrancesco Vago, chairman of CLIA Europe, who revealed the figures at Cruise Shipping Miami said: “The impressive figures on the European cruise market 2013 released today clearly show the strong growth trend of an industry which already generates 327,000 jobs and €37.9 billion of economic benefits annually. More than six million Europeans chose to book a cruise vacation in 2013, and the long term trend shows a continuing positive growth which proves the cruise industry’s resilience despite the economic downturn.”
Earlier this week CruiseBritain revealed more people are visiting the UK by cruise and also embarking from UK ports.
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