A record number of Asian sourced passengers took cruises in 2018, but ended up accounting for a smaller slice of the global cruise pie, according to the latest CLIA cruise report.
CLIA’s 2018 Asia Cruise Industry Ocean Source Market Report said there were 4.24 million Asia sourced cruise passengers in 2018, up 4.6% from the previous year. It, however, accounted for only 14.8% of the global ocean passenger volume of 28.5 million. In 2017, Asia accounted for 15.1% of global cruise passengers.
According to the report, that Asia’s passenger volume growth was more measured did not come as a surprise as cruise ship capacity dipped in 2018 due to strong demand for ships worldwide and reduced short cruise itinerary options ex-mainland China.
Mainland China’s share of all Asian passenger volume dropped to 55.8% from 59.3% in 2017. Taiwan remains the second largest Asian source market (9.3%) followed by Singapore (8.8%), Japan (6.3%), Hong Kong (5.9%), India (5.2%) and Malaysia (3.6%).
However, with the anticipated arrival of several new ships in 2019/2020 – Costa Cruises, Genting Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean International and MSC Cruises – and Asian destinations building new cruise infrastructure, cruising in Asia is expected to pick up even further.
Other notable statistics from the report:
- Asian cruise passengers are found across the age spectrum with an estimated average age of 45.4 years. Only three markets show real divergence: India, a young 37 years average; Indonesia a young 39 years average; and Japan an older 57 years.
- Asian cruise passengers predominantly cruise in the region with more than 50% (2,194K) cruising from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Almost 40% (1,694K) cruise in the rest of Asia.
- Outside of Asia, the Mediterranean, Caribbean/South America, Baltics/ Northern Europe, and Alaska were popular choices in that order.
- Shorter sailings remain the dominant choice of Asians, 89% of whom are sailing 4-6 nights with an average duration of 4.9 days – the lowest amongst source market regions in the world.
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