This year’s wave season in the cruise industry appears to have outperformed last year’s weak performance, Travel Weekly reports.

“While a number of cruise line bosses declined to reveal growth figures for the wave period, others reported an increase in bookings of almost 50%. The positive start to the year follows a tougher wave period in 2015, when a number of lines admitted the start of the year had been slower than anticipated,” the report said.

GfK, which conducts surveys, put cruise sales for 2016 up 1% year on year for bookings made between Boxing Day and February 6, with an average selling price of £1,402. GfK’s figures represent about 40% of the UK ocean cruise market, mainly high street bookings but not cruise specialists’ or cruise lines’ direct sales.

GfK’s figures also show a surge in bookings for 2017, with sales more than twice those of the same period last year. The average selling price for 2017 is £2,394.

In 2014, the UK cruise market contracted by 5% to 1,65 million ocean cruise passengers, the first decline in about a decade. It happened despite a 2.9% growth of the country’s GPD and low unemployment. The 2015 passenger volume figures have not been disclosed yet.