Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) new-look Cruise Month campaign in October 2024 has delivered its best-ever results in Australasia.

The initiative attracted record levels of travel agent involvement while creating a surge in consumers looking to connect with agent members of CLIA.

With an expanded social media campaign and digital advertising program, this year’s Cruise Month initiative resulted in more than 20,300 visits to the ‘find a CLIA travel agent’ function on the CLIA website, a 51 per cent increase on October last year. Overall traffic on the CLIA website was up 47 per cent.

At the same time, the number of travel agents who took part in Cruise Month initiatives more than doubled.

CLIA Managing Director in Australasia Joel Katz said: “We know that CLIA members are the best-trained and most professional cruise specialists out there, and this year’s Cruise Month figures prove that this is important to consumers.

“October’s 51 per cent increase in people using our agent search function shows there’s a lot of enthusiasm for cruising and that travellers are looking for a trusted advisor to help shape their holiday.”

Mr Katz said this year’s Cruise Month webinar program had been the most extensive offered, with 30 online education opportunities scheduled throughout October.

“Thousands of agents took part in webinars presented by more than two dozen cruise brands, giving them fresh insight into their latest product developments and promotions,” Mr Katz said.

This year’s Cruise Month campaign involved a rolling program of imagery and videos on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, directing consumers to CLIA cruise specialist travel agents.

It also involved digital advertising targeting new-to-cruise consumers as well as established cruising fans, plus Cruise Month coverage in major newspapers and specialist publications, Cruise Month promotions by CLIA cruise lines and a competition for CLIA travel agents who launched their own Cruise Month events.

Record-breaking season for NSW ports

Data released by CLIA and the Australian Cruise Association (ACA) reveals the 2023-24 cruise season saw the largest economic return to NSW that has ever been recorded - smashing even pre-COVID-19 figures.

This growth is expected to continue over summer with 1.2 million passengers and crew from 312 cruise ship visits set to sail into NSW ports.

It’s not just Sydney ports set to benefit from the cruising boom. The Sapphire Coast is set to benefit as 25 cruise ship visits bring 43,000 passengers and 20,000 crew to the Port of Eden, injecting a potential $12 million into the local economy.

Newcastle will see an increase in international visitors with 12 cruise ship visits, bringing 12,500 passengers and 6500 crew who can take advantage of the diverse array of shore excursions to explore the best of the Hunter region and nearby coastal towns.

The report also showed a 50 per cent jump in jobs with the industry supporting employment for 13,714 full time jobs in NSW over 2023/24.