The Australian Cruise Boom
Cruising is growing rapidly in Australia and lots of Australians are taking to the seas. I love to cruise and the key benefits of this type of holiday that I enjoy are the fact that I can go ‘destination sampling’, by visiting a number of places in a short time; the relatively ‘all-inclusive’ nature of paying for your travel, accommodation, meals and entertainment up-front in one hit; and finally the fact that you only have to unpack once during your holiday. So let’s look at the world of cruising and what is happening in Australia.
Worldwide the cruise industry is undergoing a period of rapid growth and remarkable change. Last year approximately 20 million people undertook cruising. The industry is being driven by an insatiable demand by people wanting to cruise and the cruise lines are responding by building more and larger ships. The largest cruise liners in the world are Royal Caribbean International’s (RCI) two ‘Oasis class’ 225,282 tonne ships, Oasis of the Seas (built in 2009) and Allure of the Seas (2010).
Allied to the growth in cruise ships is the emergence of new trends in cruising. According to the Berlitz Guide to Cruising these include an increased number of large resort ships; the rise of smaller luxury and/or expedition ships; the growth of shopping malls on board; and the increased demand for active adventures onshore. It is estimated that cruise lines currently visit around 2000 destinations with traditional destinations being the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Alaska and the Bahamas. However, the growth of cruising has now led to a greater demand for ‘newer’, exotic and more remote destinations. One such destination is Australia.
You only have to look at the newspaper travel sections and the rise in travel agencies dedicated to cruising, to realise that cruising is booming in Australia. In 2008 cruising grew by 5 percent in the US and 12 percent in the UK. Here it grew by a staggering 26 percent. Last year the number of Australians taking a cruise holiday increased by 27 percent to 466,392 (The International Cruise Council of Australasia, ICCA).
This is a record result and represents the Australian cruise industry’s sixth consecutive year of double-digit growth. The overall proportion of Australians taking a cruise holiday is 2.1 percent, which has risen from 0.6 percent in 2002. It is projected that 1 million passengers (4.2 percent of the projected Australian population) will be cruising by 2020.
Our main cruising destinations are to the South Pacific, (37 percent of Australia’s cruise market), Australia (19 percent) and New Zealand (10 percent). According to an industry report by the AECGroup, last season cruise ships visited 34 cruise Australian ports and contributed $1.281 million to the economy. Whilst a decade ago there were few ships based in Australian ports, last season there are 10 ships from six cruise lines based here.
Further evidence of the rapid growth of Australian cruising is that the largest operator, Carnival Australia’s Princess Cruises’ Sea Princess as well as Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, will be part of nine ships based in Australian waters over the 2011–2012 summer. The other large cruise corporation, Royal Caribbean International, will have two super liners based in Sydney from October, the Rhapsody of the Seas, which has completed three summer seasons here, along with the Radiance of the Seas, the first 21st century ship to be based here.
Thus cruising is on the increase, and I think it represents a good form of holiday suitable for young and old, singles and families. But like anything else, do your research first and choose an appropriate ship for your holiday. Talk with your travel provider first before booking and then simply go and enjoy a relatively stress free holiday. I will see you on the seas sometime soon.
Ross Dowling, Cruise enthusiast, cruise ship lecturer, and editor of the book Cruise Ship Tourism.
