CLIA announces continued growth of the Cruise industry

November 28, 2016 – Speaking at the Madrid International Cruise Summit, Pierfrancesco Vago, CLIA Europe Chairman for the past three years and MSC Cruises Executive Chairman, announced a forecast of continued growth for the cruise industry in Europe, in spite of current global economic austerity. Since 2008, the European cruise industry has grown by a staggering 49 percent, and the industry continues to progress each year. In 2015, 123 cruise ships from 39 cruise lines operated in European waters carrying a total of 6.6 million passengers, an increase of 3% from the previous year. European ports also saw a 4.5% increase in the number of European passenger embarkations, bringing the total to 6.12 million European passengers. European cruise travellers account for 28.4 percent of the global passengers (23.19 million in 2015). Germany and UK both provide over 27 percent of European passengers each, followed by Italy with 12.3 percent, France with 9,3 percent and Spain with over 7 percent. The remaining 19 percent is shared between the rest of Europe. Leading European markets by country of embarkation are Italy with 32.7 percent, followed by Spain 20.9 percent, UK 17.3 percent, Germany, 9.6 percent , France 5.1 percent and Greece and Denmark over 3 percent. As more cruise ships are expected to be delivered to European operators, the cruise vacation market will continue to expand in 2016 and beyond. Europe’s shipyards have 48 orders to be delivered by 2019 to international cruise lines and 75 by 2026.