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2 May, 2019

CLIA predicts return to strong growth for local cruise market after lacklustre 2018

At a media briefing addressing its annual cruise industry report, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia revealed subdued growth for the sector.

The Australasian market has continued its long run of cruising growth, with a total of 1.35 million Australians opting for cruises during 2018; however, this represents a small increase on last year’s performance.

In 2017, 1.33 million Australians took an ocean cruise, representing a 4.4 per cent increase from the previous year; in 2018, statistics were down with only a slight growth from the previous year of 0.9 per cent.

“All of the expected reduction in growth will probably continue into 2019, but the future of the Australian cruise market remains very positive,” CLIA Australasia chairman and Carnival Australia/P&O Cruises president Sture Myrmell (pictured above) told attendees at the 2018 Australian Ocean Source Market report briefing.

Australia’s lower growth in cruising was linked to a drop in local cruising, up just 0.1 per cent, which Myrmell said was due to local infrastructure constraints, including a lack of new ports in Sydney.

However, the chair said new developments in the works across the country would improve on this year’s growth.

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CLIA chairman Sture Myrmell said the future looks positive for the Australian industry, with several key ports and a number of new larger ships in development.

“The construction of the new international cruise terminal in Brisbane, the dredging in Cairns … and Eden, with work announced in Broome, together with the project across the ditch in Lyttelton and Auckland, we are all expecting that to reignite the growth in the home-port market,” Myrmell said.

Australia continues to lead the way internationally in terms of penetration rates in the established cruise markets, with 5.8 per cent of the population (one in 17 Australians) opting for a cruise in 2018.

Comparatively, market penetration sits at 4.0 per cent in the United States, 3.0 per cent in the United Kingdom, and 2.8 per cent in Germany.

Cruise tourism continues to deliver enormous value – contributing nearly $5 billion to the Australian economy annually.

In terms of employment more than 17,000 full-time jobs were also supported by the direct expenditure of cruise passengers, crew and cruise-lines, with wages adding $1.4 billion to the Australian economy.

CLIA world perspective: international growth and new forecast

There was a 6.7 per cent increase in cruise passengers globally for 2018, with 28.5 million cruisers worldwide.

In terms of the distribution of cruisers, 14.2 million (49.9 per cent) came from North America, 7.1 million (25.1 per cent) from Europe, 5.7 million (20 per cent) from the Asia Pacific, 930 thousand (3.3 per cent) from South America.

Other locations accounted for the remaining 476 thousand (1.7 per cent) passengers.

Based on the its performance in 2018, CLIA has revised its global projections for 2019 to exceed more than 30 million guests, with a few key developments underway in the coming years.

“That strong growth reflects the rising interest among travellers and our industry’s ability to meet that demand with new ships and unparalleled experiences,” Myrmell said.

“To serve this growing base of passengers, CLIA Cruise Lines is launching 18 new ships in 2019.”

Myrmell also said that from now to 2027, there are more than 20 cruise ships under development at CLIA Cruise Lines Australasia.

CLIA sustains upwards of 1.1 million jobs, with an economic impact of more than $190 billion AUD ($134 billion USD).

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