More than 2.6 million people cruised on Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) member line ships…
More than 2.6 million people cruised on Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) member line ships in the third quarter of 2003, including more than 2.1 million North Americans.
With nearly 7.2 million passengers worldwide (including more than 6 million North Americans) traveling on CLIA ships in the first three quarters of the year, the industry is on pace to reach our original estimate of 9.6 million passengers worldwide (8.3 million North Americans) for another record-setting year, says Bob Sharak, CLIA`s executive director.
The third-quarter figures reflect an 8.92 percent increase worldwide (5.49 percent North American passengers) over the same period last year and contribute to an 11.85 percent hike worldwide over figures for the first nine months of 2002.
The numbers confirm that cruising continues to be the vacation of choice for millions of people. Growth of the industry in the past five years has been phenomenal. In fact, according to the 2002 CLIA Cruise Market Profile Study by NFO Plog, 56 percent of those who have ever cruised (more than 23 million people) have done so in the past five years, says Mark Conroy, CLIA chairman and president of Radisson Seven Seas Cruises. But there`s still plenty of room to grow, since only 15 percent of the total U.S. population is estimated to have ever taken a cruise.
It is thanks to the joint efforts of the industry and its professional travel agent partners that CLIA ships sailed at 103.2 percent occupancy during the first three quarters of 2003, says Sharak.
The CLIA fleet represents approximately 97 percent of the cruise capacity marketed to North America. From 1980 through 2002, growth in cruise capacity has averaged 8.3 percent annually, keeping pace with demand and the 8.4 percent annual passenger growth the industry has experienced since 1980.
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