The number of people who took holiday cruises last year increased by two million globally, according to industry figures.
The 10 per cent increase lifted the total number of ocean cruise passengers to 20.6 million.
In Australia, cruise passengers increased by 30 per cent to 588,381 people.
The figures from international and Australasian industry associations, and industry analysts GP Wild, also identified North America and Europe as the biggest markets with 11.5 million and 6.2 million passengers respectively.
British cruisers were the second-largest group behind the US and Canada, with 1.7 million passengers.
The International Cruise Council of Australasia predicts more than one million Australians will take a cruise holiday in 2020.
Yahoo!7 News via AAP
See also: Cruise industry continues to expand contribution to U.S. economy