Carnival Australia Carries More Passengers in 2016

The growth in cruising on locally-based ships of Australia’s cruise operator Carnival Australia has driven a 21 percent surge in the number of Australians taking an ocean cruise.

According to new cruise industry statistics, an additional 222,378 Australians cruised last year, taking the number of Australian ocean cruise passengers to 1,281,159 in 2016.

Nearly 80 percent of the additional 222,378 Australians who cruised in 2016 sailed on ships from Carnival Australia’s seven brands, including P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard, Holland America Line, Seabourn and P&O Cruises World Cruising.

Helping to drive the growth was an increase in P&O Cruises’ local capacity, with the addition of Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden in November 2015, as well as a strong focus on South Pacific cruising from Carnival Cruise Line and P&O Cruises, and Princess Cruises’ leadership in the New Zealand market.

Citing the 2016 Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) Australasia Australian source market report, Carnival Australia said that the number of Australians cruising close to home on itineraries visiting Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific surged to almost one million cruisers in 2016. This equates to 76.7 percent of all Australian passengers, up from 71.3 percent in 2015.

“We are very proud of Carnival Australia’s part in cruising consolidating its position as the most successful sector of Australian tourism with more than a decade of double digit annual growth in passenger numbers,” Ann Sherry, Carnival Australia Executive Chairman, said.

“CLIA’s latest source market report also confirms the important role our full-time Australian ships play in driving cruise industry growth in this region,” Sherry added.

An analysis of the report showed that 77 percent of Australians who sailed from Australian home ports travelled on ships operated by Carnival Australia’s brands, while 84 percent of Australians on domestic cruises sailed on P&O, Princess and Carnival Cruise Line ships.