European cruise report forecasts further growth

Over 4 million cruise tourists can expect to be sourced from European countries by 2010, according to a report unveiled this week.

The report, commissioned by the European Cruise Council, Euroyards, MedCruise and Cruise Europe, predicted that the figure could rise from 4.1 million to 5.1 million by 2015.

According to research, the most popular country for cruise ports of call in Europe is Italy, which welcomed 3.4 million cruise passengers to ports such as Naples, Civitavecchia and Livorno in 2006.

Spanish ports, including the Canary Islands, are the second most popular, welcoming 2.8 million cruise passenger visits.

These were followed by Greece (2.5 million), France (1.39 million) and Norway (1.13 million).

The report said the cruise industry now accounts for more than a quarter of a million jobs in Europe, over €10 billion direct expenditure and 15 million visits to European ports.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to compare annual trends and the impact of the cruise industry on European job creation, wealth and tourism,” said David Dingle, chairman of the ECC and chief executive officer of Carnival UK.

“Every million euros spent by the cruise industry creates 2.2 million euros in business output and 21 jobs, paying an average wage of €33,500. There is no doubt that the revival of European shipping has helped to establish Europe as the new centre of gravity for the cruise industry.

“But what’s particularly impressive is how quickly our industry has beaten our own forecasts.

“When the first economic impact study was published last year we predicted we’d achieve quarter of a million jobs and 3.6 million cruise passengers embarking on their holiday in Europe by 2010.

“We’ve hit that already, with a raft of impressive growth statistics which show how fast the cruise sector is growing in importance to European economies – embarkation figures are up 20%, passenger visits are up 21%, direct expenditure is up by 27% and ship construction is up by 32%.”

Cruise companies, shipbuilding yards and cruise passengers now account for €10.6 billion of direct expenditure in Europe – a 27% increased on 2005.

During 2006 the global cruise industry spent an estimated €4.1 billion on cruise ship construction and maintenance in Europe. This is almost a billion euros more than in 2005

At the end of 2006, European shipyards were under contract to build 36 cruise ships with a combined value of €14.9 billion through to 2011.

Between 1995 and 2005 demand for cruising worldwide more than doubled from 5.7 million to 14.4 million passengers.

Over the same period the number of Europeans taking cruise holidays around the world more than trebled from 1 million in 1995, and in 2006 reached 3.4 million.

Europeans now account for 23% of cruise passengers worldwide, compared with just 19% 10 years earlier.

By Bev Fearis

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