Visitors at British ports on rise

Passenger embarkations from British cruise ports grew by 10% to reach 1.04 million in 2013, says CruiseBritain.

Growth was also boosted by a 20% year-on-year increase in the number of day calls to British ports, which amounted to 866,000 in 2013. Over the past ten years, the figures for day calls at British ports have nearly quadrupled.

“Cruise tourism is a valuable source of income to ports and destinations across Britain and is increasingly being factored into local and regional tourism,” said Daren Taylor, chair of CruiseBritain. “The vessels that can be accommodated range from small ships carrying a handful of passengers, to boutique ships, to the largest ships deployed in Europe. This wide range gives an opportunity for all ports, including those without major facilities and infrastructure, to benefit from the growing popularity of cruising to and around Britain.”

In 2013, each passenger visit at a British port (combining the embarkation and day call numbers) generated an average spend of €100, marking a rise of 10% from 2012. As many of the visiting cruise vessels carried around 2,000 passengers, this generated around €200,000 per visit.

This significant passenger spend boosts local and regional tourism revenues and forms an integral part of the overall cruise line spend in the UK, which accounted for more than €3 billion last year. This included passenger and crew expenditure, cruise line purchases, ship repair and employee remuneration.

Taylor said: “When cruise lines’ direct expenditures on food and beverage, fuel and other non-durable goods, jobs, business services and travel agent commissions, plus indirect benefits from suppliers and employee compensation, are added into the equation, it is clear that cruise business is big business for the UK economy.”