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Sea passenger statistics: International sea passengers 2022

Published 26 July 2023

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sea-passenger-statistics-all-routes-2022/sea-passenger-statistics-international-sea-passengers-2022

For the 2023 release, we are moving the publication date to August and we would welcome any comments on the proposed change. If you have any feedback, please email sea passenger statistics.

About this release

This statistical release presents final statistics on sea passengers on international routes to and from the UK for 2022.

International passengers are those that travel on international routes. These are broken down into short sea (ferry) routes and passengers on cruises and long sea journeys.

These statistics include all vehicle drivers (including Heavy Goods Vehicle drivers), their passengers and foot passengers on ferries.

You can use our maritime interactive dashboard to further explore international sea passenger trends.

2022 release

Comparisons have been made to 2019 as well as 2021 as 2019 was the last full year before the coronavirus pandemic started.

Headline figures

International sea passenger numbers more than doubled to 14.3 million in 2022 compared to 2021. This follows a gradually declining trend in international sea passengers from 2010 to 2019, and a sharp decrease from 2019 to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. While this indicates a recovery towards pre-pandemic levels, international sea passenger numbers remain 31% below 2019 (chart 1).

Chart 1: UK international sea passengers, 2012 to 2022 (SPAS0101, SPAS0201)

For international passengers in 2022, compared to 2021 and 2019:

  • the total number of international short sea passengers (ferry routes) more than doubled to 12.2 million, but is still below the 18.4 million passengers in 2019
  • cruise passengers increased tenfold to 2.0 million compared to 2021, however this is still a 8% decrease compared to 2019

In 2022, the number of short sea passengers on international routes increased to 12.2 million from 5.4 million in 2021. For each month in 2022, passenger numbers on international short sea routes were higher to the comparable pandemic months, but always remained below pre-pandemic levels. The number of passengers in 2022 was 34% lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2019 (chart 2).

Chart 2: International short sea passengers by month, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 (SPAS0107)

International short sea passengers in 2022 followed a similar seasonal trend to pre-pandemic passenger numbers. January and February 2022 passenger figures were 51% less than those in the same months of 2020 as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic only started to be seen in March 2020. In March 2022, all remaining travel restrictions were lifted.

In April 2022, passenger figures increased from March 2022. From May to August 2022, passenger figures slightly decreased from April to May followed by an increase to a peak in August. In August 2022, there were 2.1 million passengers. This is 22% below the same month in 2019 and almost triple of August 2021. This peak in passenger numbers coincides with those departing and returning from summer holiday.

From September to November, passenger figures steadily decreased, as is usual in the autumn months and December 2022 saw an increase in the number of passengers from November.

A timeline of coronavirus restrictions which affected maritime travel from 2020 to 2022 can be found in table SPAS0107.

In 2022, most ports saw an increase in passenger numbers compared to 2021, but remained below the numbers reported in 2019. Dover, the port with the largest international short sea passenger numbers, doubled from 3.1 million in 2021 to 6.5 million in 2022, but remained 41% below the 10.9 million passengers in 2019 (chart 3).

Poole had an increase in passenger numbers from 1,000 in 2021 to 141,000 in 2022, but remained 31% below the 204,000 passengers in 2019. Passenger services on routes from Poole to France were paused in 2021 so the numbers on those routes in 2021 were drivers of freight only.

Fishguard saw an increase in their passenger numbers in 2022 of 13% to 265,000 compared to 2019, when passenger numbers were 235,000 (chart 3). Fishguard only has passenger routes to the Republic of Ireland. Operators reported that this increase is likely due to decreased capacity in 2019.

Chart 3: UK international short sea passengers by ports and port group, percentage change in 2022 compared to 2019 (SPAS0101)

Table 1: Percentage change on 2019 for ports with at least 100 international short sea passengers in 2022 (SPAS0101)

Port group Port Percentage change from 2019
Thames and Kent London -79%
Thames and Kent Dover -41%
South Coast Newhaven -2%
South Coast Portsmouth -29%
South Coast Poole -31%
South Coast Plymouth -20%
West Coast Milford Haven -34%
West Coast Fishguard 13%
West Coast Holyhead -21%
West Coast Liverpool -42%
East Coast Tyne -20%
East Coast Hull -52%
East Coast Grimsby and Immingham -13%
East Coast Felixstowe 7%
East Coast Harwich -4%

Statistics on international short sea passengers by port group can be found in data table (SPAS0101) or by using the maritime interactive dashboard.

International cruise and long sea passengers

Definitions

Cruise passenger figures include all passengers on international cruise journeys who start and finish their cruise journey at a UK port as well as cruises between a UK port and a European or Mediterranean port. Like other sea passengers, cruise passengers are included at both departure and arrival if their journey begins and ends at a UK seaport. Transit passengers, who do not embark or disembark from a UK port, are not included in these figures.

Long sea voyage passengers are those travelling on one-way scheduled voyages to and from ports outside Europe and Mediterranean.

Cruise passenger numbers increased from 181,000 in 2021 to 2.0 million in 2022, a strong recovery bringing them 8% below the 2019 level (chart 4). This increase is related to changes to Foreign Commonwealth and Development office (FCDO) advice allowing international cruises to restart from August 2021.

In 2022, the number of long sea passengers increased from 4,000 in 2021 to 80,000 in 2022, its highest level since 2017. Before the pandemic, the number of long sea passengers between 2000 and 2019 varied greatly each year (ranging from -36% to +47% change in passengers each year), in part because operators can use these trips to reposition vessels around the world as needed. It is likely that with the restart of the cruise sector, more repositioning trips were required (chart 4).

Chart 4: Cruise and long sea passengers, 2000 to 2022 (SPAS0101)

Passengers on international cruises

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there were no cruises departing from UK ports after 23 March 2020, and this continued for the rest of the year. The only cruise passengers after this were those arriving back from cruises that had already departed. This was due to Foreign Office advice against cruise travel as well as wider government advice and requirements restricting international leisure travel. International cruises did not restart until August 2021 following changes to Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office advice announced on 28 July 2021.

Cruise passenger numbers increased to 2.0 million in 2022 from 181,000 in 2021. A strong recovery bringing them to 8% below the 2.2 million seen in 2019.

Of these 2.0 million cruise passengers, 1.8 million (89%) passed through Southampton and 86,000 (4%) through Dover.

The ports of London, Liverpool and Tyne saw 65,000, 47,000 and 9,000 passengers passing through respectively in 2022.

An additional 19,000 cruise passengers (1%) passed through ports other than Southampton, Dover, London, Liverpool and Tyne.

Passenger numbers for domestic cruises can be found in Sea Passenger Statistics: Domestic Sea Passengers 2022.

Passengers on long sea voyages

Long sea figures vary greatly over time, in part because operators can use these trips to reposition vessels around the world as needed.

There were 80,000 long sea passengers in 2022, compared to 4,000 passengers in 2021. As cruises only restarted in August 2021, it is unlikely there was much need to reposition vessels in 2021.

Detailed statistics on cruise and long sea passengers by port group can be found in the data table SPAS0101.

Annex: timeline of coronavirus events affecting sea travel

A timeline of coronavirus events affecting sea travel since March 2020 can be found in table SPAS0107.

These sea passenger statistics do not provide information about the individuals travelling through UK ports. Additional information on the origin of passengers is available from the ONS International Passenger Survey, monthly figures.

The ONS International Passenger Survey publish overseas residents’ visits to the UK by month with a breakdown of geographical areas (for example, EU15 including all countries that joined the EU prior to 2004), as well as information on UK residents visits abroad and where their destination is, again segmented using the same geographical areas. This survey also produces a table on the earnings in the UK and expenditure abroad.

The International Passenger Survey was resumed in January 2021 after being suspended in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Background information

We would welcome any feedback on these statistics by email. We will attempt to address any comments in a subsequent release.

The data tables for sea passenger statistics are available.

Provisional summary totals for international sea passenger traffic are released monthly in SPAS0107.

Full guidance on the methods used in the publication of these releases, and the quality of the data, and known users and uses of the statistics are available.

The sea passenger statistics are National Statistics. This means they are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure they meet customer needs.

These statistics were designated as National Statistics in February 2013.

Details of ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release are available.

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