Ship ahoy! Aussies love a life on the ocean wave
SYDNEY – Of 20.5 million Australians, 263,435 took a sea cruise holiday last year – or almost one in every 80 men, women and children.
Another 11,761 Australians bobbed along the rivers and canals of Europe.
The 2007 total is a 116 per cent jump over a five-year period, according to an umbrella body, International Cruise Council Australasia.
The Melbourne Age reported that cruise officials say their leisure niche is poised for another bumper year – and will be less buffeted by the stormy seas of economic turbulence than the rest of the troubled travel industry.
Twin trends are the popularity of ever-larger ships carrying more and more passengers, as well as small, specialist vessels going to off-the-beaten-track destinations.
Statistics from International Cruise Council Australasia reveal more than six in 10 Australians opt for the waters of Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.
Asian destinations attract roughly nine per cent of the market, with Alaska and Europe (mostly the Mediterranean) luring slightly less.
Ian Jarrett
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