All aboard, Kiwis turn into cruisers
It's enough for you to order a banana daiquiri and flop into the sun lounger by the pool - Kiwis are taking cruise ship holidays in record numbers.
Almost 60,000 boarded the gangplank last year, a rise of 23 per cent on a year earlier, according to new figures.
Since statistics for the Cruise Industry Source Market Report were first compiled in 2006, the number of New Zealand cruisers have doubled.
"New Zealand is a young cruise market and this impressive growth shows that cruising is very much on the horizon for a lot of Kiwi travellers," Cruise Lines International Association Australasia general manager Brett Jardine said.
The average annual growth over the seven years was 14 per cent and Mr Jardine expected the market to continue to expand.
"With more ships being deployed in the region in the coming years, we expect to see continued growth out of New Zealand," he said.
ON THE HIGH SEAS
59,316 cruisers
23 per cent growth
favourite destination: South Pacific (31 per cent of trips)
average cruise length: 11.1 days
Kiwis spent an estimated 656,000 days at sea
Source: CLIA Australasia Cruise Industry Source Market Report 2013.
