Costa Concordia disaster: cruise bookings 'remain strong' However, according to Cruise.co.uk - Britain's largest online cruise agent - 150,000 searches were made on its website in the seven days following the disaster, only 7,000 fewer than in the previous week. Seamus Conlon, the managing director, said: "Like everyone in the industry, we're truly shocked and saddened by the Costa Concordia accident, but our figures show that it is having little or no effect on bookings for the key brands." Mal Barritt, director of Cruise118, another online agency, said bookings through its website had remained strong, with sales last week up 10 per cent on last year. Penny Guy of the Passenger Shipping Association said it was too early to say what the long-term effect of the disaster would be on the cruise industry. There are a number of factors, including an economic outlook, that are affecting the UK economy as a whole, as well as the Costa Concordia incident. We were already predicting a slowdown in growth in the number of British passengers taking a cruise in 2012, mainly due to the fact that there are no new ships being brought in that cater specifically to the UK market. But we're confident that the cruise industry is resilient, and that the interest in cruise holidays will continue. Since the disaster, the parent company of Costa Cruises, the Carnival Corporation - the world's largest cruise operator - has announced a review of safety and emergency response procedures across its entire fleet. The Miami-based company owns nine cruise ship brands, among them the Cunard Line, Holland America, P & O Cruises and Seabourn.