Costa carryings up by 19%
Costa Cruises carried 19% more passengers in 2005 than the previous year and claims to be on target for one million a year by 2007.
The Italian line saw passenger numbers rise to 870,000 this year against 730,000 in 2004.
The number of UK passengers for the Carnival Corporation-owned line was up by seven per cent on the previous year. Italy provided the biggest passenger increase – up 16% with Austria in second place with 10% growth.
The results coincide with new figures from the European Cruise Council, the association of Europe’s main cruise operators, which shows the number of European cruise passengers travelling in 2004 was 2.8 million – five per cent up on the 2003 figure of 2.6 million.
The UK provides by far the biggest slice of the cruise market – more than one million passengers in 2004 followed by Germany with 551,000, Italy with 400,000, Spain with 300,000 and France with 222,000.
Report by Phil Davies
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