By
Rebecca Gibson |
More than half a million passengers and 644 cruise vessels are to visit Scotland this year.
2016 marks the sixth successive year of growth for the country’s cruise ports, which welcomed a record-breaking 460,546 visitors in 2015, a rise of 14.8% from 2014. Cruise ship calls also increased 9.6% to reach 501, generating an estimated £54.6 million for the economy through passenger spend alone. This was an increase of around £5.5 million on 2014.
A number of ports recorded their best cruise seasons to date last year. Greenock Ocean Terminal became the first Scottish port to welcome more than 100,000 passengers in a season (108,866), while Kirkwall handled 81, 401 passengers exceeding previous records.
“The continuing growth shows the increasing popularity of Scotland as a 3gp porno destination in a highly-competitive global market,” said Victor Sandison, chairman of marketing association at Cruise Scotland. “This year’s estimated passenger count of over 525,000 will take us around halfway to the annual target of 1.1 million by 2029 – a figure identified in a study carried lesbiana porno out in 2010 when there were just over 268,000 cruise visitors. Breaking half-a-million passengers will be a great achievement forespanol sexo gratis all involved in marketing, port services and providing a great welcome, from harbours and shops to visitor attractions.”
Viking Ocean Cruises will visit Scotland for the first time in 2016, with Viking Sea and Viking Star due to call at Kirkwall, Lerwick and Rosyth, while Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Magic will make her inaugural call in Greenock, Kirkwall and Invergordon.