Cruise trade contributes £2.5 billion to UK economy

LONDON, England – The British economy also benefited from £2.5bn of expenditure from the industry in 2012, according to a report from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

LONDON, England – The British economy also benefited from £2.5bn of expenditure from the industry in 2012, according to a report from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

The organisation said the sum was spent in the UK by cruise passengers as well as by companies, on staff salaries, ship maintenance and other areas to support their operations.

Expenditure in the UK was up 3.7pc on 2011, while the number of British jobs supported by the industry last year rose by 2,000, or 3.5pc, to 66,059.

Britain is the second biggest employment market for the cruise industry in Europe after Italy, where it supports 99,556 jobs. Among the UK jobs were 14,677 crew and administrative staff. The UK is also the biggest market in Europe for cruise passengers, with more than 1.7m Britons taking to the seas last year.

More than 1.5m holidaymakers joined or left their cruise in Southampton, making it the busiest cruise port in Europe.

The industry took a knock to its reputation at the start of 2012, following the Costa Concordia disaster. However, 6.1m Europeans and 20.9m people globally still took a cruise last year, the CLIA said.

“Despite the global economic crisis, the cruising industry continues to show steady growth. The number of people who choose a cruise holiday in Europe has more than doubled in the past decade to over 5.7m; the sector attracted almost a million passengers from outside Europe,” said Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, the CLIA’s Europe chairman. “As a result, it generates employment for more than 326,000 people across Europe, up from 315,500 last year.”

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...