Take cruise control

THE cruises sector of the global travel industry has been defying recessionary trends and growing non-stop, with average annual growth of 9%.

Here in Ireland, we’re seeing very visible evidence of that growth through the increased numbers of cruise ships visiting various ports in Ireland at the current rate of about 60 vessels per year.

With competition continuing in the cruise sector and prices coming down, the cruise is no longer the difficult-to-attain luxury product that it was in the time of Agatha Christie and more and more Irish people are partaking of this adventurous form of travel. There aren’t any accurate figures available nationally, but all travel agents and operators confirm that the numbers of Irish people opting for cruises is still on the increase. Not only that, but the more cruises that people take, the farther and more adventurous their cruising habits become, subject to their own budgets, of course.