European cruise industry grew 25% in 2006
A Seatrade report says that talking about the newly published and updated study on the contribution of cruise tourism to the economies of Europe, unveiled in Brussels recently, European Cruise Council chairman David Dingle said: ‘It certainly makes for impressive reading.’
The Carnival UK ceo first outlined the sheer scale of cruise activity in Europe in 2006: 44 cruise lines domiciled here with 118 cruise ships and just over 100,000 lower berths, a further 47 ships with just over 50,000 lower berths deployed in Europe by non-European cruise lines and over 3.4m cruises booked by European residents — 23% of all cruises booked globally. ‘Contrast this with just 1m Europeans 10 years ago, representing just 19% of the world market,’ Dingle said.
Over 3.6m passengers started their cruise from a European port, of which over 80% were European nationals. ‘Very positively, Europe as a cruise destination attracted more non-Europeans than Europe as a source market sent to other parts of the world,’ noted Dingle.
Some 15.2m port calls were made in Europe in 2006. Italy, led by Naples, Civitavecchia and Livorno, welcomed 3.4m visits, followed by Spain and the Canary Islands with 2.8m and Greece with 2.5m. The Baltic also has major importance for cruising with ports such as St Petersburg, Tallinn and Stockholm all attracting around 300,000 visits. Non-EU Mediterranean ports are also of vital importance, said Dingle, singling out Dubrovnik and Tunis, each with over 600,000 visits, and Kusadasi in Turkey with over 300,000.
In 2006 there was direct expenditure of €10.6bn by cruise lines and their passengers, a 27% increase over 2005, whilst total economic output including indirect and induced impacts amounted to €23.9bn in 2006, a 25% rise over the previous year. The total number of European jobs dependent on the cruise industry in 2006 is assessed at 225,000, a 20% increase over 2005, whilst total employee remuneration amounted to €7.5bn, a 25% increase over the previous year. Almost 50% of the total remuneration was paid to direct employees of the cruise industry.
“So we can say that in round numbers, the European cruise industry has grown by an amazing 25% in just one year,” announced Dingle.
A Report by the Moel from Seatrade
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