Carnival chief Micky Arison sees the British cruise market doubling in 10 years.

This week the Carnival UK  2010 Cruise Report forecast that the British cruise market will almost double by 2020 from 1.65 million to 3 million cruisers.

In announcing the report, Carnival Corp. & plc chairman and CEO Micky Arison said that driving the growth is an increase in the number of cruise itineraries available to Britons, including short cruises of three and four days that give people the opportunity to try a cruise vacation.

Arison pointed to the new cruise ships coming into the market as another driver of growth because these ocean liners offer guests more activities, restaurants and recreational options. He said the newbuilds are destinations in themselves.

Ahead of the CRUISE Show at London's Olympia, March 27-28, a panel of cruise experts, including cruise sellers, marketers and writers, has selected Alaska as the U.K.’s most desired cruise destination on the Top 10 list.

Along with Alaska, the UK experts picked Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands as the number two destination followed by: Spitsbergen in the Norwegian Arctic; the Antarctic Peninsula; the Black Sea;  St Petersburg;  Venice; Mediterranean cruising; the Corinth Canal in Greece and Dubai, Muscat and Aqaba in the Middle East.

The panel comprised: Wendy Atkin Smith (Managing Director Viking River Cruises UK); Jane Archer (Telegraph Travel cruise correspondent); Gary Buchanan (travel writer); Andrew Cochrane (Managing Director, Noble Caledonia); William Gibbons (Director, Passenger Shipping Association); Andy Harmer (The Cruise Portfolio); Lol Nichols (General Sales Manager, Fred.Olsen Cruise Lines); Stephen Park (General manager, NCL UK); Jo Rzymowska (Associate Vice President and General Manager Royal Caribbean Cruise Line UK and Ireland); Steve Read (Sky Travel cruise correspondent); Carolyn Spencer Brown (Editor in Chief, Cruise Critic); Colin Stone (Managing Director, Swan Hellenic); Douglas Ward (author, Berlitz Guide to Cruising).

For more information on the CRUISE Show, visit www.cruisingshow.co.uk.