Finns Show Most Interest in Cruises

The pandemic saw global numbers of ocean cruise passengers fall from 29.7 million in 2019 to 4.8 million in 2021. Now, passenger volumes are forecast to see a full recovery and to even surpass 2019 levels by the end of 2023, according to a report by the Cruise Lines International Association.

The following chart uses data from Statista’s Consumer Insights survey to show the share of people in different countries that booked a cruise ship in the past 12 months. Of the polled countries, cruises were most popular with Finnish respondents, with one in four people having booked a trip. Cruise ships were slightly less popular among residents of neighboring Sweden and Norway, with 15 percent and 11 percent of respondents saying they had booked a cruise, respectively. This form of vacation saw very little interest from polled countries in the south of Europe, such as Italy (6 percent), France (5 percent) and Spain (4 percent).

The industry’s return isn’t welcomed by all. A recent report by Euronews shines a spotlight on cities such as Barcelona which, after experiencing cruise ship-free streets during the pandemic, are now rethinking their policies in order to mitigate the impacts of overtourism.

Read more about the environmental impacts of cruise ships here.