The European Cruise Industry continues to grow, increasing it’s share of the global cruise holiday market despite economic uncertainty all over the world. Figures released this week show that passangers made over 23.8 millions visits to European ports last year which is a year on year increase of around 9%. Almost 5 million European residents booked a cruise holiday last year, a figure which has risen by arond 50% in just five years.
The European Cruise Industry generares over 34 billion euros each year, which shows the importance of this industry in terms of the economy. Not only does cruising provide tourism, it also provides hundreds of thousands of jobs.
As well as the 1.3 billion euros which are spent on flights, hotels, excursions and food onboard cruise ships, passengers also spent a total of 1.45 billion euros while they were visiting ports during their holiday. This figure has increased year on year, again, despite the economic downturn.
Although the initial outlay of a cruise can be an expensive one, many people are now looking at this option due to the relatively small spends required once you are actually on holiday. For British holiday makers this is especially true as the value of the pound against the euro has dropped significantly over the past 12 – 18 months. Because of this, eating out abroad is no longer cheap and bargain holidays are few and far between. It can therefore work out cheaper to pay for your food and drinks upfront, and makes the cost of a cruise quite similar to the cost of any other type of holiday.
It is expected that the popularity of cruising in Europe will continue to grow year on year, and in fact, cruising is one area of the travel sector which looks stronger than ever whereas other areas have seen significant reductions.
