By
Rebecca Gibson |
The cruise industry generated around £50 million for the Scottish economy in 2013, a rise of 5% since last year.
Passenger figures also increased by around 10% to 384,639, which was partly influenced by improved capacity for larger cruise vessels.
“Working closely with the Scottish Government and various agencies, we continue to make significant progress in a highly competitive, expanding international market,” said Victor Sandison, Cruise Scotland’s chairman. “Over the past four seasons, visiting vessels are up 26%, passengers by 43% and the value of cruise tourism to Scotland by 52.5%. We are committed to increasing awareness of the country’s many attractions, improving visitor experience and growing our market share.”
While Scotland’s cruise industry faces several challenges – such as UK Border Force’s face-to-document passenger checks and new sulphur emission controls in 2015 – the country’s cruise ports are currently scheduled to handle 450 ships in 2014. This will bring a record 390,000 passengers to the country.
Cruise Scotland, which markets 16 of the country’s ports and two ground handlers/shore excursion providers, plans to promote Scotland outside English-speaking markets, including France, Spain and Italy. It will also coordinate a number of familiarisation visits to Scotland for cruise operators.
“With the end of season figures showing an increase in passenger figures during 2013 as well as 2014 currently scheduling around 390,000 passengers, these are very encouraging results,” said Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s minister for energy, enterprise and tourism. “The Scottish Government will continue to support the cruise industry, across all of Scotland, and we will work closely together in order to make the most of what Scotland has to offer at every potential destination – irrespective of the size of the vessel.”