The number of river cruises taken by British and Irish passengers has reached record levels but the rate of  growth halved from the previous year, CLIA UK & Ireland said in a statement.

The total number of river cruise passengers reached 232,300 last year – an increase of 21,900, or 10.4% year on year. However, that compares with a 21% rise in 2017 when the annual total jumped by 36,000 to 210,400.

The number of ocean cruise passengers increased by 2.0% to 2.01 million, CLIA UK & Ireland has reported earlier.