Recent data published by the SNAV Barometer show that cruise bookings for June decreased by 10% for leisure tourists and by 6% for business travelers compared to June 2012.
This negative trend hit all French destinations. France itself lost 15% travelers, other French territories reported around 6% less visitors.
Departures during June are however increasing with +3% of leisure tourists and +5% business tourists leaving the country. Mid-range destinations seem to be growing in popularity increasing by 7% for leisure and business travelers compared to the drop of long distance destinations (-6% of leisure tourists and -3% of business tourists).
The number of cruise bookings towards mainland France has fallen by 15% of leisure travelers and 5% of business travelers. Other French territories are also reporting a decreasing trend, particularly Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, with the notable exception of French Polynesia which has shown a 67% increase in tourists and business travelers.
As for departures for mainland France, they are fairly stable in terms of leisure tourists but increasing by 4% for business travelers. However, departures for mainland France are marked by a decrease in relation to last minute reservations compared to 2012.
For overseas French departments, the decrease in departures to the West Indies in terms of tourist number adds to the persistent decrease in departures to Réunion.
Italy is the only one of the mid-haul destinations seeing its cruise reservations grow steeply, thanks to a 19% increase in tourists and 27% in business travelers. Bookings to Spain, Greece and Morocco have dropped slightly. As for Tunisia, the country recorded a harsh drop (-19% of tourists) in reservations on the brink of the summer season.
In terms of departures, Turkey and Greece are clearly marked out by a lively growth (+30% and +34% of passengers respectively).
For their part, departures for Spain and Italy are on the rise, to +6% of tourists, whilst Tunisia is dropping steeply to -32% of tourists.