Cruising is a global game. But the Caribbean is home plate. Over the past decade, we have seen a huge wanderlust among European, Asian, Middle Eastern and African populations yearning to travel and learn. And cruising has benefitted and profited from that dynamic. There are now few areas not yet visited by inquisitive tourists. But there’s no doubt of the world’s prime choice of location. According to the number-crunchers at Statista: “Spanning 2.75 million square kilometres, with roughly seven thousand islands, more than 20 bordering countries and sunbathing temperatures all year round, the Caribbean Sea has become the main hub for cruise tourism in the world. The region has reached around 40 per cent of the global passenger capacity, surpassing the Mediterranean by a wide margin as the most important market for this kind of tourism.” This is not likely to change any time soon. But what is changing is the travel diaspora itself; the younger age groups, the pursuit of different interests, the upgrading of host-port countries over the past quarter century and the consolidation of family group travel. Analysis by the CLIA shows further that in the past two years, 31 per cent of passengers were first-timers; 82 per cent said that they plan to sail again and 68 per cent were considering taking their inaugural cruise. In addition, nearly one-third of cruise guests have sailed with three or more generations, and enthusiasts of “expedition” and “exploration” cruises increased by 22 per cent from 2023 to 2024, thus becoming a major growth sector. CLIA’s analysis shows further that in the past two years, 25 per cent of cruisers have sailed two or more times per year and 11 per cent have taken three to five cruises annually. In addition, the fastest-growing segment of cruisers are those purposed to expedition or exploration travel. These figures reinforce observations by Wendy Paradis, former president of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies who emphasized: “Interestingly, Canada is ahead of the U.S. in terms of expedition awareness. This could be due to Canada having closed the border for longer during the pandemic, pushing Canadian travellers toward more experiential and unique experiences. For a few years there, you could do a lot of dreaming and thinking, but not a lot of doing.” Well, those times are over and, looking forward, CLIA emphasizes that between 2025 and 2036, 56 new ocean-going vessels will be added to the world’s cruise fleet and more than 70 per cent of these ships will be small or mid-size vessels. These will be mostly dedicated to individual-interest travel not usually associated with the 5,000 to 6,000+ passenger mega boats with multiple pool decks, water slides, para jumps, internal-city landscape, 24-hour buffets and on-board “all you can…” specials. Thanks in good part to the leading role of the Port of Vancouver and its critical positioning as a gateway to the Pacific nations, Canada’s cruise industry revenue topped $1 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2027. An integral part of the North American market, Canadians took almost 40 per cent more cruises in 2023 than they did in pre-Covid 2019, and are expected to approach 990,000 boardings by 2027. However, according to market sources, two-thirds of Canada’s cruisers are older than 65 and only 27 per cent are aged 45-64. That is unlike data from the U.S. which shows people in their late 20s and early 40s leading overall cruise demand, thus moving the ladder down to younger groups who are more involved in using travel to expand their interests in cultural, expeditionary and multi-destination cruises. That’s a healthy indicator for future cruise marketing design. Who wouldn’t rather have the young fleet-offoot and fresh of mind as their future potential purchasers? Canadian elders still dominate cruise numbers 24 | www.snowbirds.org Travel
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