Accredited official statistics

Sea passenger statistics: Overview 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-overview-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 both international and domestic 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.

Domestic passengers travel on domestic routes, including domestic sea crossings (also referred to as domestic short sea routes), domestic cruises, river ferries and inter-island 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.

Overview of sea passenger statistics

Infographic 1: Breakdown of types of sea passenger routes

This statistical release presents the complete statistics on all sea passengers to and from the UK in 2022. It includes (infographic 1):

International routes: These include all passengers travelling on international short sea routes, cruises and long sea journeys to and from the UK.

Domestic routes: All other short sea passenger routes, including routes between Great Britain and the Orkney and Shetland Islands, domestic cruises, domestic river crossings and inter-island routes.

Summary of sea passenger statistics

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.

Domestic sea passenger numbers increased by 26% to 37.4 million in 2022 compared to 2021. This follows a broadly stable trend in domestic sea passengers from 2012 to 2019, then a sharp decrease from 2019 to 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and an increase in 2021 and 2022. While this indicates a recovery towards pre-pandemic levels, domestic sea passenger numbers remain 11% below 2019.

Chart 1: UK domestic and international sea passengers, 2012 to 2022

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

  • the total number of international short sea passengers (on ferry routes) more than doubled to 12.2 million, but this remains 34% below 2019 levels
  • cruise passengers increased tenfold to 2.0 million compared to 2021, however this is still a 8% decrease compared to 2019

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

  • the total number of sea passengers on domestic routes was 37.4 million, an increase of 26% on 2021, but remained 11% less than in 2019
  • the number of passengers on river ferries increased by 31%, but remained 9% less than in 2019
  • inter-island passengers increased by 23%, but remained 16% less than in 2019
  • passengers on domestic sea crossings increased by 33%, and was 6% more than in 2019

Useful 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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Contact us

Sea passenger statistics

Email sea-passenger.stats@dft.gov.uk

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

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