At its Latitude Cruise Conference today onboard Ambassador Ambience, The Advantage Travel Partnership announced that 2024 has been its strongest year ever for cruise.

Jonny Peat, senior cruise manager for The Advantage Travel Partnership, said on stage: “At our Latitude conference 12 months ago we set ourselves some ambitious targets to reach and put in place a roadmap to grow our cruise community through Latitude.  One year on, we have achieved everything we set for ourselves and more. Cruise continues to play a massive role in our commercial strategy and across our business, generating over £0.65bn of revenue annually and growing. Our members see cruise as a key area of growth for their own businesses and we are continually looking at ways we can best support them.”

Peat presented the growth as:

·       Revenue increased +16% vs. 2023

·       Ocean +12%

·       River +110%

·       Luxury +30%

·       Expedition +77%

·       ASP +6% vs. LY – ahead of overall land by 1%

Peat added that during Cruise month in September, when the Partnership intensified its cruise marketing activity for members to support the national campaign, it saw a 20% increase in sales year on year. Other significant achievements for the year highlighted by Peat were the growth in membership of Advantage’s Latitude proposition, with the community growing by 52% during the year to 450 members. Furthermore, ship visits for the year increased to 450, a growth of +180% versus the previous year.

Virtual member briefings for its turn of year campaign and cruise campaigns, newly introduced last year, have also been highly successful.  The latest virtual briefing, ahead of September Cruise Month saw attendance grow 94% year on year.

In line with the Partnership’s most recent Business Impact Analysis published in September, Peat says that over the past year Latitude members have reported an increase in new customers, many of whom are a younger demographic. Members are also seeing customers seek out lesser-known destinations to explore whilst they cruise, such as Antarctica, Galapagos and Columbia, and noted that luxury cruises are on the rise.

He continued: “It’s been a truly momentous year for cruise, and it’s the sector that is helping to fuel the growth of our members' businesses.  The last 12 months have seen exponential growth for cruise in all sectors and this doesn’t look like it will abate any time soon. Our ambition is to be the home for anyone driving sales in the cruise sector; the go-to for members and supplier partners for cruise.”

Looking ahead Peat said that planning for 2025 will see Latitude become even more tailored in its offering to members.

He continued: “For 2025 we are planning to introduce an even more tailor-made approach, continuing to support members at the start of their journey, but also opening the next level.  For example, River, Expedition and Luxury cruising is booming, so we’ll have training events that will connect our members with suppliers depending on what support is required, beginner, intermediate and expert. These will be in person and online.

“We have always seen phenomenal success with our events in the past and will be rolling out more for 2025. Our community has a huge appetite for learning, and the next natural progression is for us to focus even further on delivering more events on cruise, and the sub-sectors within.

“Above all Latitude has always been about being inclusive and welcoming any member into our community, regardless of the level of experience within the sector. This approach has been core to our success and will remain front and centre of our proposition as we move forward.”