Antarctica, Alaska and Galapagos Islands are predicted to be the top trending cruise destinations for 2025, according to the Expedition Cruise Network (ECN).
The expedition cruise industry is a growing sector, with multiple expedition cruise companies boosting their sales teams and increasing their UK market presence in 2023 and 2024. They have also invested in sophisticated digital support and tools to help sell.
Between 25,000 and 35,000 guests from the UK travel on expedition ships each year, estimates the ECN. Costing an average of £8,000 per person, the expedition cruise business in the UK is worth between £200 and £280 million a year.
The Virtuoso Group, the largest global luxury travel company, reported a 19% increase in expedition cruise bookings and among ECN members, 94% expect business to grow in 2024.
The CLIA State of Industry Report 2024 reveals that expedition and exploration cruises are the fastest-growing sectors in the cruise industry, with 71% increase in passengers from 2019 to 2023.
The destinations showing the biggest growth for 2025 are Antarctica, Svalbard, Alaska, Greenland, the Galapagos Islands, Africa and Pacific expedition cruises.
During the 2022-23 season, a total of 71,362 expedition cruise passengers landed in Antarctica. Of those, 5,391 were citizens of the UK, representing 8% of the global market, behind the USA, Australia and Germany.
In 2019, the last year for which data is available, 32,356 passengers visited the Arctic region on expedition ships.
The Galapagos Islands attracted 9,000 passengers from the UK in 2022, with 68% exploring aboard an expedition ship. The average age of the travellers was 46 years old. The average booking window is nine months ahead of an expedition cruise.
The travel trade channel generates over 50% of bookings for most of ECN members and some rely exclusively on trade bookings. All of the ECN’s members reported growth or maintained sales levels through the UK travel trade while their business rate growth ranged from between 5% to 40%, with one company reporting a three-figure percentage.
For companies with a range of itineraries, repeat custom rates are between 40% and 50%.
Sustainability is a key issue and AE Expeditions became the first cruise company to gain B Corp status.
It was revealed that, globally, the industry consists of 96 ships with a total of 15,111 berths. The market has a total annual value of £1.3 billion.
Established in April 2023, ECN’s members include 1,500 travel trade professionals and 26 expedition cruise operators.
Image credit: Peter McNally/Pixabay
