Most popular cruise destination areas

Mediterranean cruises - most popular for the Brits (38% market share, 22% growth). The main reason the Med is such a popular cruise destination is the availability of short 2-7 night package from UK/Europe, the rich history and wide range of ports of call meaning people can take many seperate Mediterranean cruise before they have exhausted themselves.

Caribbean cruises – second biggest for British tourists (17% market share) and the major market for the US. Alaska, Bahamas, Trans Canal, Mexico, Bermuda and Hawaii are the next biggest markets for US customers.

UK Cruises – A record 50 UK ports received visits from cruise ships in 2006. The number of all passengers embarking in the UK grew 15% to 576,000 passengers, of which non-UK passengers accounted for 127,000 – a growth of 27% year on year. Ports of call passengers to UK ports increased 22% to exceed 392,000 at UK ports in 2006. The total value of cruise passenger expenditure at UK embarkation or port of call ports was over €290m (£197m back then!). Approximately €67m (£45m) of this was spent by overseas residents. Scotland and the South of England continued to attract the most cruise visitors, however the East of England (e.g. departures from Harwich) had the biggest increase at four times its 2005 figure.