River Cruising
Millions of dollars are being invested to take river cruising to another level, as demand for the sector looks set to follow the meteoric growth of ocean cruising, says Jane Archer
GOES UPMARKET M
UPSTREAM
ore than 130,000 Britons took a river cruise in 2010, according to unofficial
statistics from the industry. As they are the first statistics collated for many years there is nothing to compare them with, but reports of record bookings from the river cruise operators, as well as huge investment in new vessels, suggests the sector is booming. Avalon Waterways, which launched
in the UK in 2009, said it had sold the same number of cruises by the end of March as in the whole of 2010, while Swan Hellenic has doubled its river
cruise programme for 2012 as this year’s cruises sold out so fast. Much of the growth can be attributed
to the fact that a lot of new river cruise companies have launched in the UK in the past three years, bringing with them appealing new vessels with big suites and proper balconies (traditionally river cruise boats feature French windows that open to a iron grill). Uniworld’s new Antoinette, launched
in March, has a cinema, a funky top- deck nightclub, a spa pool, cushioned sun loungers and conservatory-style balconies, while Avalon’s new Panorama
is the first all-suite river cruise boat. The trend for more stylish vessels with new features continues in 2012, when at least seven new river cruise boats will be launching. As well as Avalon, new names in the
UK river cruise sector include Scenic Tours, APT which part-owns AmaWaterways, Swan Hellenic, which offers exclusive charters with Germany company A’Rosa after satisfying themselves about the quality of their vessels, and eWaterways, this year appointed UK gsa for Royal Crown, a Dutch-owned vessel sailing on the
72 June 2011 •
www.sellinglonghaul.com
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