Cruise bookings in the UK fell by as much as 29% in the week after the Costa Concordia disaster on 13 January and have since partly recovered so that they were 15% down year-on in the latest week, a report in Travel Weekly's newsletter says.
Industry analyst GfK Ascent reported cruise bookings in the week to January 21, immediately afterthe Concordia tragedy, down 29% against the comparable week a year ago, the report said.
Sales remained 24% down year on year in the following week to January 28, but the market recovered to just 15% down in the week to last Saturday, February 4.Bookings were forecast to fall in the aftermath. However, GfK Ascent reports the cruise market for the year remains just 2% down on the same point in 2011.
The analyst reported total holiday bookings for the summer 2012 season down almost 9% on last year to the end of last week - in line with capacity reductions at the big-two groups Tui Travel and Thomas Cook.
Package holiday sales fared better at 7% down year on year for the season to date. The GfK Ascent figures show sales improving since a poor start to January, with bookings down 10% year on year in the last week and 11% down the week before. Summer bookings over the first four weeks of January were 15% down on January 2011.
