Cruise industry trends for 2024 revealed

Data reveals increases and decreases in certain search options

With peak season quickly approaching, brands across the travel industry will be looking to invest more into their digital marketing channels to ensure they're in the best position against competitors when it comes to crunch time. 

Digital agency BANC has revisited the trends that they covered in their previous research document to see what search terms are on the rise, and which channels are creating the most traffic and bookings, as well as insights from their call tracking partners Mediahawk.

The Cruise Industry Trends of 2024 report also uncovered some new data and trends from the first half of 2024, which cruise businesses can use to inspire and inform any upcoming marketing strategies.

The report found that cruise audiences aren’t using search to find their cruise holidays anymore.

Instead the data showed that there was a 25% year-on-year decrease in searches for ‘Cheap Cruise Holidays’ and a 39% year-on-year decrease in searches for ‘All Inclusive Cruise Holidays’.

It also revealed that there was a 42% year-on-year decrease in searches for ‘Cruise Holidays from Southampton’.

There has been a 55% increase in searches for solo cruises in January 2024, suggesting that brands looking to target the solo cruiser should do it in January.

Solo Cruise and Travel posts are popular across social media with the hashtag #SoloCruise on over 5,000 posts on Instagram and nearly 2.5k posts on TikTok.

The hashtag #SoloCruiser has over 1,000 posts on Instagram, while #SoloTravel has over 9.6M posts on Instagram and 905k posts on TikTok.

The interest in 2026 Cruises has seen a significant incline, suggesting that businesses should be investing in their organic strategy way in advance.

Additionally it found that there has been a 31% increase in paid visitor traffic in the travel sector.