River cruise popularity soars in UK as Danube drives growth

The popularity of river cruising across Europe is soaring, with more Britons than ever taking to the continent's waterways, according to new figures.

The River Cruise Review, published by the Cruise Lines Association (Clia), reported a 21 per cent increase in the number of UK bookings in 2017 compared to 2016. Some 210,400 British travellers went on a river cruise last year, the first time passenger numbers have broken 200,000. 

European river cruises made up 90 per cent of bookings last year, accounting for 188,000 passengers. The Rhine and Danube continue to fuel growth with the Douro in Portugal and the Russian waterways also growing in popularity.

These destinations saw an 85 per cent and 70 per cent uplift in passengers, respectively.

Passengers are also spending longer on river cruises with the total of number of nights up by 24 per cent in 2017. Giles Hawke, deputy chairman of Clia UK and Ireland and CEO of Cosmos Tours and Cruises and Avalon Waterways UK, said: “[Since 2014] the average length of a river cruise has increased by a whole day, so from 6.7 days to 7.7 days.”

Investment, particularly in new ships, has partly driven growth. In 2017 11 new ships were launched, in 2018 there were 10 more and eight new vessels are on the way in 2019.

Outside of Europe, passengers are favouring three rivers, the Nile, the Mekong and the Irrawaddy. But Mr Hawke acknowledged that passenger growth on the Irrawaddy, which flows through Myanmar, is likely to be hit by negative coverage around the country and the Rohingya crisis.

He singled Asia out as a region that will continue to see growth in river cruising. Andy Harmer, director of Clia UK and Ireland, added that there was “much excitement around India this year.”

Indian rivers, including the Ganges and Brahmaputra, saw British passengers up by 27 per cent in 2017 year on year.

The Nile saw a 14 per cent growth, the highest outside of Europe.

Mr Hawke said the average age of passengers with Avalon Waterways was 57 or 58. While Stuart Perl, chair of the CLIA UK river cruise working group and UK managing director of AmaWaterways, said its average passenger age is 63.

River cruise passengers are generally considered to be slightly older than ocean cruise passengers. Indeed around three quarters of river cruise passengers have previously been on an ocean cruise.