The number of British passengers taking an ocean cruise has dropped for the first time since records began in 1993.
According to the latest figures from the Cruise Lines International Association, 1.64 million Brits took a cruise in 2014, down from 1.73 million the year before.
It means the UK now has a 25.7% share of the total European market in terms of passenger numbers, a drop from its 27.2% share a year ago.
But CLIA believes the fall is just a blip and that numbers will bounce back this year.
"Last year we saw cruise ships being moved away from the UK and other popular destinations for British consumers such as the Mediterranean," it said.
"However, the good news is that this year we have witnessed the introduction of additional cruise ship capacity including P&O Cruises’ Britannia, Royal Caribbean International’s Anthem of the Seas, Princess Cruises’ Royal Princess and Cruise & Maritime Voyages’ Magellan, and this is being borne out in strong 2015 growth forecasts from many UK ports."
Southampton remained Europe’s largest embarkation and disembarkation cruise port last year even though fewer passengers passed through it.
The port carried 1.57 million cruise passengers in 2014, down from 1.68 million in 2013.
But CLIA said numbers are expected to jump 11% to 1.75 million this year helped by the introduced of the new ships.
Despite the drop in passenger numbers, the cruise industry’s direct contribution to the UK economy, including items such as goods and services purchased by the cruise lines and the salaries of their employees, grew slightly from £2.225 billion to £2.247 billion the previous year.
Overall passenger figures for Europe have grown slightly from 6.357 million in 2013 to 6.387 million in 2014, a rise of 0.5%.
The industry’s direct contribution to the combined economies of Europe grew by 2.8% to £11.842 billion in 2014, whilst the overall contribution of the cruise industry, including indirect items such as spending by cruise line suppliers, grew by 2.1% to £28.659 billion.
