The average age of a cruise passenger has fallen to 46, new figures reveal – with millennials and Gen Z fuelling a record 31.7million holidays afloat.
Thirty-six per cent of people on ships are now under 40, with millennials (aged 28 to 43) and Gen Z (12 to 27) making up roughly a third of customers each, according to the State Of The Industry Report by the Cruise Lines International Association.
The ratio of over-60s has fallen to 17 per cent, the report claims. More than a quarter – 27 per cent – of passengers over the past two years have been new-to-cruise, up 12 per cent, while solo travellers now make up nearly 10 per cent of the market.
Cruises are also becoming more family oriented, with a third of passengers sailing with at least two generations.
Globally, the number of cruise passengers in 2023 was 31.7million, up 6.8 per cent on the pre-Covid year of 2019. The biggest percentage rises were in North America (up 17.5 per cent to 18.1million), South America (up 6.6 per cent to 996,000) and Europe (up 6.5 per cent to 8.2million), while Asia fell 37.7 per cent to 2.3million.
In Britain, numbers were up 15 per cent on 2019 levels to a record 2.2million, maintaining our place as the world’s third-keenest cruisers after the US (16.9million) and Germany (2.5million).
The Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda remained the most popular destination (up by nearly a million to 12.9million), followed by the Med (5.5million, up from 4.4million).
At the same time, the number of expedition passengers has soared by 71 per cent between 2019 and 2023.
The love affair with cruising shows no sign of weakening – by 2028, passenger numbers are expected to exceed 40million and global capacity (the number of ship berths) is forecast to grow by at least 10 per cent to 745,000.
Lines have 56 ships on order, with a value of $38billion – but they won’t all be giants, with 34 per cent of vessels carrying fewer than 1,000 passengers.
In 2022, the industry contributed $138billion to the world economy and secured 1.2million jobs.
Despite all this, there is plenty of room for growth, CLIA says. Cruise makes up only 2 per cent of the travel and tourism sector and its 300 ships account for less than 1 per cent of the world’s commercial fleet.
The full report can be seen here