The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) said more than half of travel agents they polled are claiming to be selling more cruises this year, compared to last year. Moreover, 25% said by midyear the numbers were similar to 2011.
This is good news for the cruise industry after the Costa Concordia shipwreck hurt bookings, but the industry sees that as an "isolated event".
Travel agents report that 15 percent expected growth of more than 25% this year compared to last year and another 25% predict a rise of 11-15 percent.
CLIA president, Christine Duffy, commented on the news, ""Particularly for the U.S. consumer market, people certainly saw the Costa Concordia as a terrible tragedy that was a very isolated event and not indicative of how the broader cruise industry operates. And I think that bears out in the fact that we are seeing cruise bookings up over the same time last year. There is still a lot of consumer confidence in the cruise product."
