Cruise industry "will see further growth in 2010"

While 2009 may see the cruise industry hit stormy waters, 2010 is going to be a year of growth, one expert has forecasted.

According to the Passenger Shipping Association, the cruise industry is well positioned to weather the economic storm in the long term and will remain a popular choice in the coming years.

The Passenger Shipping Association released a statement last month which revealed that 1.5 million passengers took a cruise in 2008 – an 11 per cent increase on 2007.

Statistics in the release documented a 23 per cent increase in the number of people joining their cruise in a UK port while the number of fly-cruise passengers increased by four per cent.

Furthermore, in 2008 the PSA reports that 577,000 passengers took an ex-UK cruise, while 900,000 Brits chose to take a fly-cruise.

In terms of destinations, the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, including the UK, were the dominant choices, seeing increases of 17 per cent and 24 per cent respectively year-on-year.

Bill Gibbons, director of the Passenger Shipping Association, said: "The market is capacity led and we had plenty of capacity coming in, in early 2008, which was really dedicated to the UK market, like P&O Cruises' Ventura and Fred Olsen's Balmoral. It was due to the extra capacity that came in."

According to Carnival UK's Cruise Report 2009, published in February, if the cruise industry follows suit with general holiday spending in the UK, times are not set to be too tough.

The research found that, 72 per cent of British holidaymakers are planning to spend at least as much on their main holiday this year as they did in 2008.

What is more, the number of couples choosing to marry at sea has been steadily increasing with 371 couples married at sea in 2008, 32 per cent more than in 2007 and 64 per cent more than in 2006.

Cruisecritic.co.uk's survey of cruise passengers showed that more British than any other nationality said the style and amount of entertainment on board was a key factor in choosing one cruise line or ship over another.

Mr Gibbons concluded: "2009 has no growth but further growth is predicted for 2010 when we get more capacity."

“Some of the other brands are going to continue to grow generally with Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises; they've got a bigger ship in this year and in some respects will compensate for the capacity which has been taken out."