Speaking at an event in London on Tuesday (4 October) president and chief executive Ellen Bettridge said the line had fully recovered from the impact of the pandemic, with UK sales in particular tracking spectacular growth. “The UK market has exploded over the past year, exceeding 2019 numbers,” she said. “Only the UK and the US have managed this, with Australia and Canada lagging behind.”

Uniworld, Bettridge revealed, would expand its product range for 2023 with the addition of a new India river and rail itinerary incorporating the Maharaja’s Express, as well as two new Mystery Cruises, three Egypt Generations departures, and Christmas markets in Belgium for the first time.

Looking ahead to next year, three of the river cruise line’s top five selling regions are long-haul – India, the Golden Triangle and the Ganges; Egypt and the Nile; and Vietnam, Cambodia and the Mekong. “We now have two ships on the Nile, the new SS Sphinx and the River Tosca. Egypt is back to boom levels,” she added.

The Egypt Generations cruises – scheduled to take place onboard River Tosca in December 2023 – were all about families experiencing the destination together, she said, with special activities tailored for older children including a bicycle ride through local villages and an evening dress-up galabeya party.

Other enhancements to the Uniworld programme include more after-hours excursions and chances to experience nightlife along all rivers, for example, the opportunity to attend a private concert in Rouen Cathedral or enjoy a light show in Bordeaux.

Chris Townson, UK managing director, highlighted a survey Uniworld had just completed with more than 500 of its guests. The results showed demand for more frequent holidays and longer durations, with 44% of respondents intending to take at least 2-3 holidays per year.

The average selling price had risen 28% for 2023, he said, driven by guests’ desire to travel long-haul, to tick destinations off their bucket lists and to book the top suites.

The survey also revealed a high number (78%) of Uniworld guests had also taken an ocean cruise.

Bettridge said she saw a great opportunity in converting ocean cruisers to rivers, given the size of the global ocean cruise market (30 million passengers; Clia) versus the river cruise market (one million – her own estimate).

In other developments, Bettridge said the company had switched more crew onto permanent contracts, offering better health and social benefits and job security, and a successful trial partnership with Leanpath to measure and reduce the amount of food waste produced in the kitchens would be rolled out to all ships in the coming year.