NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) — Despite the credit crunch, rising unemployment and swine flu, the cruise industry had a banner year in 2009 and the trend is expected to continue this year as younger travellers take to the high seas.

More than 13 million people took a cruise, an increase of 3.3. percent from the previous year, and the number is expected to hit 14.3 million in 2010.

"We are not recession proof but we are recession resistant," Richard Sasso, the chairman of the marketing committee of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and the president and CEO of MSC Cruises USA, told a news conference. "We keep reinventing in the industry."

CLIA, which represents 25 members ranging from riverboats carrying less than 100 passengers to a supership that can accommodate more than 5,400 guests, predicts demand will remain high in the United States and increase overseas.

Nearly 24 percent of cruise guests were from abroad and Sasso believes that number will rise as cruising becomes more popular with European consumers. There is also an untapped market in the United States where only a fraction of the population has taken a cruise. "Eighty percent of the people (in the US) haven't tried us," said Sasso.

The Mediterranean, Caribbean, Mexico and Alaska are still the most popular cruise destinations, but more people are opting for river cruises, according to Terry Dale, the president and CEO of CLIA.