Around 80% of survey respondents said they will board a cruise ship in the next 12 months
By
Rebecca Gibson |
A record 63% of travellers now are interested in taking a cruise, according to a new 2017 study from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and J.D Power.
CLIA’s first Cruise Industry Consumer Outlook of 2017 revealed that there has been a surge of interest in cruise travel in the first few months of 2017. Nearly two thirds (64%) of the 500 respondents said their overall awareness of cruise vacations has improved within the past two years. Around 30% said that their awareness of cruising and ship-based excursions has ‘increased greatly’ in the past four months, compared to a year or two ago.
As a result, 50% of consumers said they were interested in ocean cruising, while 30% were attracted to river cruising. In fact, 80% of the respondents said they will board a cruise ship in the next 12 months and more than 50% said they will, or probably will, take an ocean cruise soon. Just 6% of respondents said they had a negative attitude towards cruising, a drop from 11% four months ago.
CLIA’s survey also found that 67% of travellers believe cruising offers a high value for money experience, while 47% said the same for land-based vacations. When it comes to embarkation points, six out of ten people are aware of close-to-home embarkation options and more than half of people are willing to drive up to 500 miles by car to a port.
This is the first in an instalment of three 2017 outlooks that CLIA plans to release this year.
“The first instalment of the Cruise Industry Consumer Outlook is vital in keeping the cruise industry abreast of consumer attitudes and behaviours, allowing the industry to continue to evolve in a direction that is appealing and beneficial to would-be and current cruise travellers,” said Cindy D’Aoust, president and CEO of CLIA. “Each instalment will help the industry, as well as cruise travel agents, continue to adapt business practices and offerings to coincide with the desires of travellers and propel the cruise industry forward.”