Invergordon's buoyant cruise season reflected in search engine findings showing industry surging after riding out coronavirus storm
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DOOM-MONGERS sounding the death knell of the cruise business as the coronavirus crisis took its toll are being blown out of the water with stats showing the industry on the crest of a wave.
In the week that the Port of Cromarty Firth in Invergordon welcomed its first visitor of what is set to be another record-breaking season, new research figures show the industry bouncing back big time after being in the doldrums due to Covid.
Data from search experts, MediaVision, reveals a huge uptick in interest in cruises and cruise-related Google searches in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2022. (1st January – 26th March 2023 v 1st January - 26th March 2022).
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It appears to dovetail with local statistics from the Easter Ross port which expects to welcome around 200,000 between now and mid-October.
That started this week with the arrival of Ambassador Cruises’ Ambience carrying 1340 passengers and 614 crew.
Key findings from the MediaVision analysis showed:
- Searches for the term “Mediterranean cruise” has seen an increase of 104%
- “Caribbean cruise” is up by 54% with over 50,000 searches
- “Cruises from Southampton” has the largest number of searches at over 94,000
- “Booze cruise” is also up 22%
New and veteran cruisers are also looking for the best deals money can buy since the price of holidays has risen up to 70% since last year, according to consumer champions, Which?. Searches for “cruise deals” and “cheap cruises” saw whopping increases of 88% and 85% respectively.
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The surge in interest is good news for cruise providers.
Cruise giants P&O cruises have had the most interest, with searches totalling almost 850,000 – a YoY increase of 69%.
Of all the cruise companies monitored, Marella Cruises had the highest jump, with searches increasing by 95%.
MSC Cruises also increased by 90%.
Celebrity Cruises is up by 48%.
Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises have all seen increased levels of interest, both over 14% up on last year with search numbers reaching over 300,000.
It’s a far cry from three years ago when the industry was on the brink, with cruise ships being labelled as Coronavirus super-spreaders.
Memorably, at the time of its voyage, Princess Cruises’ ship, Diamond Princess, was reported as having over 700 positive cases among its 3700 passengers and crew members – the largest cluster of confirmed cases outside of mainland China.
Linsey McNeill, Travel Gossip co-editor said: “Ironically, one of the reasons cruising is selling so well this year is the pandemic! During the summer of 2021, when overseas travel was severely restricted, cruise lines played a blinder and started offering ‘cruises to nowhere’ around Britain. "These were immensely popular since they were amongst the most affordable family holidays at the time, and they gave many people the chance to experience cruising for the first time. These new-to-cruise customers have since become repeat bookers.
“Cruising is likely to become even more popular during the present cost-of-living crisis since it can often be more affordable than a comparable land-based holiday, and with more than 20 new ships being launched over the next 12 months, cruise lines have a lot of berths to fill.”
Louis Venter, CEO of MediaVision said: “Who would have thought cruises would be the comeback story of the year, especially after the pandemic fallout? Search behaviour is always a powerful indicator of consumer intent, and we have been monitoring the cruise trends during the 'golden period' for cruise bookings (January-March). Now cruise companies are reporting record bookings, it turns out that our prediction was right – cruising is back! See you on the starboard side!”
The analysis was carried out by organic first search agency MediaVision using their proprietary Digital Demand Tracker tool, part of their Metis technology that claims to produce search insights four times faster than standard industry SEO tools.
