Cruise lines, their passengers and their
crews were responsible for a direct economic impact of $14.7
billion last year, according to an annual study by the
International Council of Cruise Lines.
The total includes
expenditures on goods and services, travel to and from ports,
salaries, provisions, port services and ship maintenance.
Direct spending
rose nearly 14% between 2003 and 2004.
Passenger and crew
spending rose by 26% to $1.37 billion.
Passengers are
spending more in home ports: In 2004 a passenger spent $231 on
average during a visit to a home port that included overnight
stays. In 2003, the same passenger spent $195. Passengers arriving
on the day of the cruise spent, on average, $29 in port during
2004, an 81% increase. Spending in U.S. ports of call, however, was
down by 7% per person, to an average of $103 per visit.
The ICCL said a
2,000-passenger ship with a crew complement of 950 would generate
about $245,000 on passenger and crew spending per call in a
home-port city and $230,000 in spending in a port of
call.
The industry spent
more than $7.5 billion in what it calls the core cruise travel
sector, which includes direct-spend items such as passenger
spending and port and transportation fees.
The lines also
increased spending with travel agents and tour operators by 25% in
2004, to $2.1 billion, recorded in the transportation services
category.
Growth in passenger
carryings was the driving force behind the growth, ICCL said. A
majority of the payments was agency commissions, and ICCLs study
estimated that the average commission rate to agents was 15%,
unchanged year-over-year.