The UK and Ireland ocean cruise market is likely to hit the two million mark this year, one year after Germany reached the milestone, while the number of passengers embarking on their cruise at a UK port is likely to exceed the one million mark for the first time, CLIA UK & Ireland said in a statement.
In 2016, UK ports accounted for 912,000 of the 1.89 million total cruise passenger count. Their share of the total increased by 1.3 percentage points to 48.3%, while the share of fly cruises decreased to 51.7% a decrease of 1.3 percentage points, with 976,000 passengers.
Cruises accounted for 4.2% of all UK foreign holidays, the figure remained stable for the third year in a row, but it is nevertheless double the level of 2001, CLIA UK & Ireland said.
