LEADING cruise lines serving the UK market have revealed astonishing statistics about the growth in cruising - with a surprise one third of the travellers surveyed aiming to take a cruise holiday in the next five years.

Consumer research has shown that while two per cent of UK residents had been on a cruise in the last five years, 33 per cent would be taking one in the next five!

The number of cruises worldwide is set to jump from 15 million in 2006 to an astonishing 25 million by 2015, and the UK cruise market is currently growing faster than any other major cruise arena.

In the last decade the number of British people taking a cruise has doubled, with the figure in 2006 reaching 1.2million - a 12 per cent increase over the previous year.

The Northern Ireland marketplace has mirrored the national trend, with local cruise specialists reporting phenomenal year on year growth, with no sign of the cruise boom coming to an end.

Brian Gillespie of Oasis Travel in Bangor said that the company's business was up 30 per cent year on year: "New ships are coming on line all the time - eight this year alone - and there will be 37 new cruise ships by 2012.

"Our cruise bookings are increasing every month and there's seems no end to the current trend. Cruises in the Mediterranean are becoming especially popular. They are very accessible and provide more varied destinations than some other parts of the world.

"We now have our own dedicated cruise specialist company in our Lisburn office and 1,500 members in our own Cruise Club."

Alan Couser of Strandtown Travel was equally buoyant about cruise business: "I have just come back from four days on the latest Costa ship and new vessels are coming on line all the time.

"The number of families taking cruises has really taken off and the cruise companies are more and more catering for this market with increasing numbers of cabins for three and four people, and more facilities for children."

He put the boom in cruising in the Med to accessibility, lack of hassle involved in getting there, and an extended season thanks to the better weather in recent years.

Leading cruise company executives lined up to deliver the message of major open-ended growth in cruising at the recent UK Cruise Convention.

Peter Shanks, UK Director of one Carnival Brand (Princess Cruises) and Managing Director of Ocean Village said: If I was back in travel retail senior managenment, I would have no hesitation in directing staff to focus all their efforts on cruising."

Cunard Line President Carol Marlow said: Every time new ships come to the UK, they are being filled and I can see no sign of an end to that."

And Royal Caribbean International Sales and Marketing Director Jo Rzymowska, said: "Frankly, anyone who says there is going to be over-capacity in the UK cruise market is talking out of their backside."

MSC Cruises President Rick Sasso forecasts massive growth in the European market because destinations have much more to offer than the Caribbean "where one island is very much like an other."

"Europe is an easier sell especially with the massive amount of promotional dollars that are going to be spent by the cruise lines here."

He said that Europe was turning into a year-round cruising destination.

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines is unusual in that 99 per cent of its customers are British which means that the company has to find ways of expanding its market in the UK. The company has a new ship, Balmoral, beginning cruising in January next year, but it recognises that providing more berths does not automatically mean that passengers will be clamouring to book them.

"They need to be marketed, and marketing in a way that sets Fred. Olsen appart from other cruise lines," said Lol Nichols, General Sales Manageer, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.

"One way we are doing this is to make taking Fred. Olsen cruise from the UK as easy as possible so now we have a programme of cruise departures from Belfast and Dublin, as well as Newcastle, Leith, Greenock, Liverpool, as well as Dover and Southampton."

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