UK and Ireland Cruisers Are Actually Getting Older Despite Push for Millennials
Skift Take
While some cruise lines have had success targeting younger travelers, it is older people who are still the most interested. But so what? There are plenty of wealthy retirees who are happy to while away their days sipping cocktails at sea.
For years, the cruise industry has tried to shake off the tag that the only people interested in heading out on the water are the "newlywed, overfed, and nearly dead."
To counter that narrative, cruise lines have launched ships aimed at the lucrative family market and turned their attention to that most sought-after commodity: the millennial traveler.
All this has prompted some pretty bold claims that cruising is no longer just for the elderly. But despite the cruise industry spending more of its marketing dollars targeting younger people, the average age of passengers is actually rising in one of its biggest markets.
In the UK and Ireland last year, the average age of ocean cruisers edged up from 55.9 to 56.3, continuing a long-term trend that has seen the figure creep up over the past decade.
Source: CLIA UK and Ireland and the University of Brighton
It's perhaps even more of a concern for the industry that the percentage of total cruise passengers between the ages of 26 and 34 has stayed exactly the same every year from 2007 to 2016 at 4 percent and the 35-44 age group has actually seen a reduction – from a high of 1
