AUSTRALIAN cruise passenger numbers have recovered from the pandemic, with those of us taking holidays at sea finally overtaking pre-COVID levels.
New data released today by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) shows the number of Australians who took an ocean cruise last year reached 1.25 million, slightly above the 1.24 million who sailed in 2019.
CLIA’s figures also show a revival in the number of overseas visitors cruising in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, which reached 217,000 last year – a similar level to 2019.
Australians showed a preference for itineraries in the APAC region, with about 84.8% cruising in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific last year, up from 72.5% in 2019.
The figures also show a fall in the average age of Australian cruisers, which was 48.4 years last year, down from 50.4 in 2019,
Almost one third of cruisers (32.5%) were aged under 40, CLIA found, as the sector continued to attract younger generations.
New South Wales remained the biggest source of Australian cruise passengers (720,849, or 57.7%), followed by Queensland (287,259, or 23.0%), Victoria (135,623, or 10.9%), Western Australia (47,508, or 3.8%), South Australia (47,415, or 3.8%), Tasmania (6,855, or 0.5%), the ACT (2,275, or 0.2%) and the NT (1,764, or 0.1%).
Cruising’s market penetration rate in Australia was close to 5%, one of the highest in the world, meaning almost one in every 20 Aussies took an ocean cruise. MS