Mediterranean Cruising Gains Momentum, CWT Poll Reveals

Mediterranean cruising beat out traditional choices such as London; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and several Mexican locations to take the fifth spot among international destinations in Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates’ 2008 Travel Trends Survey.

Carlson unveiled the results this week, and found that Mediterranean cruising made the top five in the most popular international destinations category for the first time, after steadily gaining from No. 15 in 2004 to No. 10 in 2007.

Carlson said that, “not only is there greater inventory than ever before, many U.S. travelers are finding this is the way to travel to Europe in order to get the most for their money as possible.”

The survey was conducted from Nov. 26 to Dec. 19, 2007, and included responses from a record 555 Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associate owners, managers and frontline travel experts throughout the U.S.

The survey also found that Alaska, for the first time in this survey, ranked as the top cruise destination being booked so far for the 2008, beating out the Caribbean. In 2007, the western Caribbean beat Alaska, which came in second.