CLIA: Overseas Market Spurs Cruise Growth

Internationally sourced passengers continue to fuel the cruise industry’s growth, with a 30 percent spike in non-North American cruisers through the third quarter of 2008, the Cruise Lines International Association said this week.

An estimated 13.2 million people cruised worldwide in 2008, CLIA said, up from 12.56 million in 2007. Of those cruisers, 23 percent were sourced outside of the US or Canada, up from 18 percent in 2007.

Looking at 2009, CLIA predicted that even in a down economy, almost 13.5 million people are expected to cruise, a 2.3 percent increase over CLIA’s estimated 2008 numbers. Fleet capacity by CLIA member lines is expected to increase in 2009 by 4.8 percent.

With 2008 estimated occupancy at 104 percent, experts noted that a decrease to even 102 percent was still an enviable target by any other segment of travel.