Recently the industry body CLIA pushed back the date it believes UK passengers will top 2 million passengers for the first time.
Currently the UK cruise industry sees more than 1.7 passengers on cruises with UK cruisers visiting everywhere from the gorgeous Norwegian Fjords to the amazing Orient.
Now CLIA believes the cruise industry will continue to grow, albeit at a slower rate, predicting 2 million passengers per year by 2020.
The growth prediction is mainly down to new vessels entering the market and many more passengers being able to find availability on their chosen ships.
P&O is due to launch the 3,600 passenger Britannia next March and Princess Cruises are using Southampton as the home port for the Royal Princess which was christened by the Duchess of Cambridge herself.
Royal Caribbean is also upping their game in the UK by introducing the 4,180-passenger titan Anthem of the Seas.
To top it all off, MSC has four new ships incoming, previously announced as Project Seaside. MSC intends to bring one of these “revolutionary” new ships – or a Fantasia-class vessel – to the UK.
Not only that, but MSC’s gambit seems to have other cruise lines shaking. Carnival Corporation fear prices will be driven down by high competition.
Obviously, high competition and demand in the market can only mean better prices for prospective cruisers – all the potential cruisers out there that have disregarding a cruise as being too expensive can possibly look forward to reduced prices with all the same luxury benefits.
An increased target market can only be a good thing, and CLIA may even see the UK hit the target of 2 million before 2020. We at www.CRUISE.co.uk are ecstatic about an expanding cruise market and cheaper prices for our customers can only be a good thing.
What are your opinions? Do you want more options or are you afraid of over saturating the market?
