NEW YORK—Cruise ship vacations rose about 4.7 percent last year, while the proportion of Americans vacationing onboard fell, according to data from an industry group.

US residents took 76 percent of the world’s 12.56 million cruise trips in 2007, down from 78 percent of the 12 million in 2006, the Cruise Lines International Association, which represents 24 cruise lines, said in a statement.

Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and other lines are wooing travelers by promoting their trips as low-priced, all-inclusive vacations to attract cash-strapped consumers amid a US economic slowdown. Cruise operators have added fuel surcharges to partially offset soaring bunker- fuel prices, which have climbed 78 percent in the past 12 months. Fuel costs are “definitely being factored into itinerary planning,” Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said Tuesday aboard the Carnival Miracle in Manhattan.

“We look at the routes that we’re taking the ships, how we order the ports and orchestrate the itinerary. Where there are opportunities to save fuel, it may dictate to some degree how the itineraries are put together,” de la Cruz said.

US “consumer interest in cruising continues to be strong despite downward pressure on travel in general due to the economy and fuel costs,” the association said in a press release. “Travelers most frequently name the Caribbean as their cruise destination of choice.”

The median US cruise passenger in 2008 will be younger—46 years old, from 49 years in 2006—with a household income of $93,000, according to a survey of 2,426 residents the association commissioned in March and April.

Bunker fuel, used by ships, has soared 78 percent in Singapore in the past 12 months, to $645 per metric ton, from $362. (Bloomberg)

Shareholders reject Keppel’s offer to buy shares

MINORITY shareholders of publicly listed Keppel Philippines Marine Inc. have rejected the offer of Singapore-based KS Investments Pte. Ltd. to buy the remaining shares held by the public in its tender offer made in April and in May.

LONDON—British Airways Plc., Europe’s third-biggest airline, said it’s spent at least £17 million ($33 million) on establishing a subsidiary that will fly between continental Europe and the US.

WASHINGTON—Federal investigators are examining pilot fatigue as a cause for airline accidents in a hearing that revealed a Mesa Air Group Inc. flight flew 15 miles beyond its Hawaii destination after the cockpit crew fell asleep.

NEW YORK—Cruise ship vacations rose about 4.7 percent last year, while the proportion of Americans vacationing onboard fell, according to data from an industry group.