Image Credit: Stephanie Ervin

What’s the fastest area of growth in the cruise industry? River cruises.

To give you an idea of how fast this segment is growing, consider this: last year there were 18 new river cruise ships, a 10 percent increase over the previous year.

River cruises are not just for aging baby boomers.

Multigenerational families are now booking river cruises, and one cruise line is starting to tailor river cruises to millennials.

It’s not just European river cruises on the rise.

In South America, there are new river cruises on the Amazon.

There are also new cruises in China on the Yangtze, and in the Pacific Northwest on the Columbia river.

Perhaps the best part of these river cruises is that the ships are relatively small and have less than 150 passengers.

They go at a slower pace and to destinations that mass tourism boats physically can’t reach—places where history was made, and where history still lives.

For more information about cruise travel, check out:

• New Cruise Ships Launching This Year
• What Happens When Cruises are Rerouted
• Rules Change for Smoking on Cruise Ships

Keep reading for more travel tips.