(Reuters) -Royal Caribbean Group on Thursday raised its annual profit forecast for a second time, after record bookings during the first quarter and higher ticket pricing boosted its results.

Shares of the cruise operator rose about 4% in premarket trade, as the company also beat first-quarter revenue and profit estimates.

The boom in demand for cruise vacations has sustained through high inflation as people opted for vacations at sea over land-based alternatives that are often more expensive.

Half of Royal Caribbean’s first-quarter yield growth was driven by higher ticket pricing, with the remainder driven by a combination of onboard revenue rates, higher occupancy, and new ships, it said.

“Demand for our leading brands … continues to be very robust, resulting in outperformance in the first quarter, a further increase of full-year earnings guidance, and 60% expected earnings growth year over year,” said CEO Jason Liberty.

Royal Caribbean now expects annual adjusted profit between $10.70 and $10.90 per share, compared with its earlier forecast of profit between $9.90 and $10.10 per share.

The Celebrity and Silversea Cruises operator carried 2.05 million passengers in the first quarter, nearly 14% higher year-over-year. It also reported record demand during the “wave season” – a period between January and March when operators offer special cruise deals and discounts for the year.

That helped its first-quarter revenue of $3.73 billion surpass market expectations of $3.69 billion, according to LSEG data.

The industry is expecting 35.7 million passengers to set sail this year, a 20% increase from pre-pandemic levels, according to estimates by the Cruise Lines International Association.

Royal Caribbean’s first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.77 also beat market expectations of $1.33.

Shares of peers Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Carnival were up about 1% premarket.

(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum and Doyinsola Oladipo; Editing by Devika Syamnath)