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Promising outlook for Asia cruise markets according to dataPromising outlook for Asia cruise markets according to data

With Seatrade Cruise Asia taking place in Manila, the Philippines next month, Ted Blamey, Chart Management Consultants, provides an overview of the Asia cruise market.

October 7, 2024

3 Min Read
Hong Kong skyline
Asia generated almost 2.4m passengers in 2023 – three times its 2022 volumePHOTO: HKSARG

Asian markets, with three exceptions, have been the slowest to recover from the dramatic downturn caused by the pandemic that hit the global cruise industry in March 2020.

But the passenger figures for 2023, obtained from all cruise lines drawing on Asian markets, show a promising recovery. They prove Asian residents too are resilient, respond to capacity deployed locally and embrace the opportunity to take cruise vacations.

Passenger volumes

2023’s standout source markets are three. Retaining top two rankings achieved in 2022, are Singapore (almost doubling in

size and accounting for a third of all Asia) and India (with 16% share and an impressive 86% growth on the prior year). Third placed Malaysia with 15% share generated almost five times as many passengers as in 2022.

They benefited particularly from the deployment of local capacity. Singapore, albeit not large by global standards at 817k passengers, has achieved a penetration figure, never-before seen globally, of 13.9%.

Pre pandemic, for 2019, Singapore and India each accounted for around 8.5% and Malaysia 3.2% of the total whereas Mainland China was the dominant Asian source with 51% share. But China was effectively closed for cruise until August last year, hence its small 7% share in 2023. China’s future growth is assured as capacity returns to its homeports.

While Japan is still 31% and South Korea 5% below 2019 volumes, most minor markets are larger than they were then. But the previously important Hong Kong SAR, and Taiwan Region, like China mainland, are still rebuilding, still well behind their 2019 volumes. Limited deployment was a significant influence on demand in all these East Asia markets.

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So, whereas East Asia as a region in 2019 generated 76% of all Asians cruising (both in Asia and to the world’s destinations) it produced 27% last year. Southeast Asia went from 15% to 56% and South Asia (India) from 9% to 16%.

In all, Asia generated almost 2.4m passengers in 2023, three times its 2022 volume but still 1.4m short of the 2019 result and 1.9m less than its all-time high in 2018 (when mainland China alone was at 2.4m).

Cruise choices

The average duration of cruises taken by Asians anywhere in the world are always short. In 2023 by far the largest proportion, 71%, took cruises of up to three days. 18% cruised for four to six days, 4% for seven days and (higher than usual) 7% cruised eight to 13 days.

Most 2023 markets’ durations are close to the three-day Asian average except longer In Japan (7.7 days) and shorter in Singapore (2.0 days), Malaysia (1.9) and India (2.3).

In 2023 the vast majority of Asians cruised in Asia. For the many other world destinations only the Mediterranean attracted over 50k Asian passengers.

Passenger ages

Average age across all Asian cruisers in 2023 was 48, a little older than in the previous three years. Typically, there is little difference in representation from each age band but last year the 70+ group accounted for a lot more than before at 21% versus 11% in 2019.

Japan is always an outlier with an average age of 64.8 last year, even older than their 57 years of 2019. Passengers from India are typically younger, 38.7 in 2023, as are Indonesians, 38.1 years.

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Full report

The full range of findings and comparisons to previous years are published in Cruise Lines International Association’s 2023 Asia Market Report available on their website.

Author

Ted Blamey and his firm, CHART Management Consultants, are experts on the Asia cruise scene. Following a career as global cruise line CEO and pioneer, Blamey has been advising private, public and government concerns for 25 years on strategy, performance improvement and investment in the global cruise industry. Since 2012 CHART performed the annual analyses on Asia for CLIA. Ted is regular speaker and moderator at the Asia cruise conferences.

Seatrade Cruise Asia 2024 takes place at the Shangri-La The Fort, Manila, the Philippines, from November 12-13, co-located with Seatrade Maritime Crew Connect Global.

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