The association said the sector had produced £32.2 billion towards the continent’s coffers during 2015 – evidenced through a 1.8% revenue rise up from the previous year.

According to Clia, the statistic was an indication of “an all-time high” for cruising and its financial impact on the European travel industry.

Revenue growth was among a number of areas highlighted in the report that helped to reinforce the strength of the sector, including its creation of more than 10,000 new jobs – taking the overall figure of employees working in “cruise or cruise-related” businesses across

Europe to more than 360,000, a 3% jump from 2014.

Investment was another facet examined by the study, finding both industry direct spending (£13.4 billion) within Europe and its spending in continent shipyards, on vessel construction and refurbishment, (£3.6 billion) experiencing increases of 1.7% and 1.2% respectively from 2014.

The number of European passengers also followed the upward trend with 6.59 million holidaying at sea last year, while the number of embarkations saw a 4.6% upsurge to 6.12 million.

Business across the continent was also boosted with more than 31 million cruise passengers visiting European port cities throughout the year.

“These results confirm that Europe remains a vibrant hub for cruising,” Clia said.