Official statistics released this
morning from CLIA Australasia
have confirmed New Zealand as
the third fastest growing market
for cruise passengers globally.
A new record of 65,609 Kiwis set
sail on a cruise holiday last year,
an increase of 10.6% compared to
the result from the year prior.
The growth rate sees the nation
pass the United States and
Germany, with the total number
of passengers more than doubling
over the past five years.
New Zealand now sits behind
only Australia, which was last
month affirmed as the world’s
fastest growing market with a
20.6% year-on-year jump & 4.2%
penetration rate (CW 26 May).
The rate for New Zealand was
smaller by international standards
at 1.4% of the population but still
climbed 0.1% from 2013.
CLIA Australasia gm Brett
Jardine remained impressed with
the growth levels in New Zealand.
“These figures show us that
more and more New Zealanders
are recognising cruising as a
great value and relaxing way to
travel and are responding to the
expanding range of cruises on
offer,” he commented.
“While New Zealand is still
an emerging source market for cruise passengers with a relatively
small population, it outperformed
most markets around the world
last year in terms of growth.”
New Zealand is on track to reach
its goal of 100,000 cruises by
2020, needing to maintain a 7%
growth rate to achieve the goal.
Breaking down the market,
ocean cruising in the South Pacific
proved most popular, with more
than 20,000 pax, or 31.4% of the
market, visiting the area.
Like Australia, river cruising was
a popular holiday option, seeing
5,464 Kiwi pax – a 31.2% jump.
New Zealanders were branching
further afield also for their cruise
holidays, with numbers to the
Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico, South
America and Eastern Canada
skyrocketing 46.1% year-on-year.
Cruises to Australia however
went in the reverse direction,
down 41%, which CLIA blamed on
fewer embarkation opportunities
across the Tasman.
The majority of cruise pax come
from the North Island, the report
found, with 82% of Kiwi pax from
the northern half of the country.
