kabarsula Lisa Pile and Steve Odell on the momentum driving Australians to cruise bandar SLOT INDONESIA

Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises executives Lisa Pile and cruise industry ‘godfather’ Steve Odell say growth in Australia’s fly-cruise market will hinge on airlift capacity, as both luxury brands expand itineraries into Japan, winter Europe and emerging expedition destinations.

Australia’s fly-cruise market could double over the next five to 10 years, according to the pair, though growth remains tied to airlift currently available.

“Ten years ago when we opened our corporate office, there was about 400,000 people doing fly-cruises,” vice-president sales and general manager Asia Pacific Pile said during a break at Cruise360 at ICC Sydney today, “(Now) it looks like it’s going to double in the next five to 10 years.”

Total cruise passenger numbers from Australia were forecast to reach 1.5 million by 2029, she said.

“We’re completely reliant on how much airlift we have out of Australia and New Zealand,” Pile said.

While the brands had no direct contact with the airlines, they worked with CLIA and major travel partners in trying to identify with various stakeholders in what that growth looks like.

Brand ambassador Odell said new carriers and new airport infrastructure – such as the newly announced EgyptAir, Western Sydney Airport and Melbourne’s third runway – could add capacity to Australia and was a positive sign for the sector.

Odell, recently dubbed “the godfather of Australian cruising” said fly-cruise was the standout growth opportunity as domestic cruising softened.

“The domestic cruising is having a tough time,” he said. “I think the growth in the fly-cruise market is the big opportunity.”

Added Pile: “We’ve tried with Navigator cruising Australia during the traditional dry season period, which is our winter, and that has sold very, very well,” with the ship sailing the Western Australian coast, the Top End, and into Asia and Fiji. A reverse-season deployment is planned for 2027.

Meanwhile Europe is surging with Pile saying shoulder season is blending into peak.

“We introduced winter in Europe this year for Regent for the 26/27 season, and it’s sold very, very well – there’s very little inventory left – and next year we introduce Allura for Oceania doing Quiet Mediterranean,” she said.

Regent’s Riviera is currently sailing the Mediterranean over winter, which Odell said was “a big sign of confidence” in the destination, citing lower airfares and uncrowded access to the most popular attractions.

He said itinerary planning around events such as Christmas markets and Venice’s carnival, alongside winter-sun stops in Malta and Sardinia, was key to the strategy.

Expedition on the rise

Among the segments, expedition cruising is one to watch Odell said.

“The expedition guys and the small-ship guys have got to look for unique destinations – that’s the opportunity,” he said. “I do believe that there’ll be big growth in the expedition small-ship market,” citing the Kimberley, Papua New Guinea and Raja Ampat as under-served regions for adventurous Australian travellers.

Pile and Odell also discussed cross-brand customer migration and proegression.

“It’s actually more from NCL through to Oceania, and then Oceania through to Regent,” Pile said, noting the shift was supported by combined loyalty status across Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania and Regent within parent company Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. Regent guests were more likely to stay loyal to the brand, she said, with movement typically itinerary-led rather than experience-led.

On demographics, Pile said the core market – guests aged in their mid-50s to 70s – had remained numerically stable, but their expectations had changed.

“The 60- to 70-year-old today looks very different than the 60- or 70-year-old from 10 or 15 years ago,” she said. They have a different mindset that includes shore excursions such as bike riding, canoeing or husky-drawn bobsled experiences that “you would never have given 10, 15 years ago,” she said.

What’s next

CLIA Hall of Fame inductee Odell, who has worked out of Australia for 25 years before stepping back recently into the ambassador role, said the industry continued to work collaboratively through CLIA to advance the cause of cruise.

“We’ve all given our own time outside of commercial to contribute and support that, and that’s really important for anybody involved in our industry,” he said. “You don’t just sell tickets for your company, you do things for the good of the business.”

Pile pointed to her advocacy work with the Northern Territory cruise sector, including the Darwin Cruise Forum, as an example of that impact.

“Cruise has such a dispersal effect and impact,” she said. “When you see a ship in port in a regional township, it’s incredible.”