Economic impact of cruise vacations

A recent economic impact study of the cruise industry was just completed and I want to share some of the details with you. Here’s one that jumped out at me.

Based on passenger survey data, approximately 40 percent of embarking passengers stayed one or more nights in a port city and spent an average of $289 per visit. Imagine the money that could be generated if the Tri-State community as a whole could get together and convince the riverboats and barges to stop in Huntington, Ashland, Ironton or Portsmouth. A nice chunk of change for the local economy.

Among the factors behind the 2006 economic impact: In 2006, 12 million people worldwide took cruise vacations, an increase of 7 percent over 2005.
U.S. residents accounted for 78 percent of the industry's total passengers.
The top 10 U.S. cruise ports by cruise embarkations in 2006 were: Miami; Port Canaveral, Fla.; Port Everglades, Fla.; Galveston, Texas; Los Angeles; New York; Tampa, Fla.; Long Beach, Calif.; Seattle and Honolulu.

Global industry revenues increased 7 percent to $20.6 billion. The $17.6 billion in direct spending created more than 153,800 direct jobs, paying $5.7 billion in wages. By year-end 2006, the cruise industry's fleet had increased to 151 vessels with a combined capacity of 249,691 lower berths. The cruise industry operated in 2006 at an occupancy rate of 104 percent. This takes into account the 3rd & 4th berth found in many cabins so they’re not actually oversold. No one had to sleep on deck.

Tourism is big business and a huge employer. The full economic study and summary can be downloaded from CLIA's website,

www.cruising.org.