Last year, cruise ships operating all over the world embarked a record 31.7 million passengers, with an increase of +55.4% on 2022 and a growth of +6.8% on 2019 when, before the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, it had been recorded the previous all-time annual peak. The data relating to the 2023 is highlighted by the State of the Industry Report Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) on the occasion of the Seatrade trade fair Cruise Global underway in Miami.

The report specifies that in 2023 the recovery compared to the period of the global health crisis has occurred in all regions of the world, with the exception of Asia, where last year the had a total of 2.3 million passengers on board. passengers, with a marked decrease of -37.7% compared to 2019, and Australasia, where ships accommodated 1.35 million passengers (-1.0%). On the other hand, there was an increase in the 18.1 passengers who last year they were embarked on cruise ships deployed in the North America, with an increase of +17.5% over 2019, as well as 8.2 million passengers on ships operating in Europe (+6.5%) and 996 thousand passengers on board ships operating in South America (+6.6%).

In 2023, most of the passengers boarding the of the world's cruise ship fleet came from the USA (16.9 million pax, +19% on 2019). Below, the main nations of of origin were found to be Germany (2.5 million pax, -3%), United Kingdom (2.2 million, +15%), Australia (1.2 million, +1%), Italy (1.2 million, +24%) and Canada (1.0 million, -1%). In strong On the other hand, the number of cruise passengers from China in 2019 there were 1.9 million and in 2023 less than 157 thousand.

With regard to the target regions, the report points out that in 2023, the largest number of cruise passengers embarked on ships operating in the Caribbean region (12.9 million pax, +7.3% on 2019). This is followed by the Mediterranean with 5.5 million cruise passengers (+23% on 2019), the other regions of Europe with 3.0 million (+6.6%), Asia including China with 2.6 million (-35.6%) and Alaska with 1.7 million passengers (+35.8%).

The report also specifies that cruise lines The world's largest companies have 56 new ships on order for a capacity of of 121 thousand low beds to be delivered between 2024 and 2028, capacity which will be added to that of 656 thousand low beds at the end of the 2023.