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US cruise business grows to $17.6 billion industry
The fastest growing embarkation points for the $17.6 billion US cruise travel market were New York and Hawaii, according to a recently released study.
Direct spending related to the cruise industry increased 9% in 2006 — down slightly from 10% growth the year before. The reasons: a slower rate of capacity growth and a drop in consumer spending, according to a report from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
The report showed that 12 million passengers took cruise vacations worldwide in 2006, with US passengers making up 78% of those travelers.
Seven ships were added last year, and about 30 more are scheduled to be built by the end of 2011. Cruise lines anticipate there will be enough demand to fill 80,000 new berths.
Demand has slowed in the key Caribbean market, the study says, but the industry has seen potential for growth in the Europe and Asia markets.
Industry surveys show only about 17% of Americans have taken a cruise, meaning there should be enough demand to meet the increased supply of berths, pointed out CLIA President Terry Dale.
“As an industry, we’ve barely scratched the surface,” Mr Dale said. Florida — home base for Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. — led with nearly 56% of all embarkations and the top three cruise ports in 2006. The Port of Miami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades accounted for more than 4.4 million passenger embarkations, the study showed.
The Port of Galveston in Texas ranked fourth with 617,000 embarkations, an increase of 16% from the year before.
New York ranked sixth with 536,000 embarkations in 2006, up 45% with the opening of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.
The port in Honolulu also showed substantial growth, with passenger departures reaching 318,000, a jump of 34%.
The success in New York and Hawaii were in contrast to a nearly 77% drop in passenger embarkations in New Orleans, whose port was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. About 72,000 cruise passengers began their trip in New Orleans in 2006, down from 308,000 the year before, the report showed.
Report by David Wilkening
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