Tom Stieghorst
There's some interesting data in the recently released CLIA report on cruising economics that bears further investigation.
For the first time since 2011, the number of people who boarded a cruise ship in a United States port was larger than the number of cruisers worldwide sourced from the U.S.
In other words, fewer U.S.-based passengers bought cruises beyond the U.S. than those that boarded ships in U.S. ports.
This speaks, I think, to the growing globalization of the passenger base on North American cruise lines.
Here's why. In 2011 some 10.45 million passengers from the U.S. took cruises, while 9.84 million embarked from U.S. ports. That shows that the U.S. was a net exporter of cruise passengers to ports elsewhere in the world, primarily Europe.
By 2014, the latest CLIA Economic Impact Analysis prior to last week's, the number of passengers sourced from the U.S. had grown to 11.33 million (+8.4% from 2011), while the number embarking in the U.S. was 11.06 million (+12.4%).
Then last year, U.S. sourced passengers hit 11.5 million (+1.5% from 2014) while U.S. embarkations reached 11.66 million (+5.4%).
Some of this could reflect the recent reluctance of Americans to travel far from home and a preference to cruise in domestic markets. So, fewer Americans cruising in Europe for example, would mean more Americans cruising from domestic ports such as New York, Seattle or Galveston.
Indeed, the number of passengers embarking in Galveston grew 35% between 2014 and 2016, making it the fastest growing U.S. port. Seattle was second with 18.6% growth and Port Canaveral near Walt Disney World was third, at 18%.
But that can't account for all of the growth in U.S. embarkations. The balance, I think, must be coming from cruise line sales abroad of U.S. itineraries. Ships departing from the U.S. have more Brazilians, Canadians, British, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican and other foreign tourists than ever before.
We know that one cruise company, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, has stepped up its sales efforts overseas in the past few years.
While many Europeans see the Caribbean on ships departing from countries such as Barbados and Martinique, not all do. And if they want to cruise the Caribbean on ships with the latest and greatest features the Harmony of the Seas or (starting next month) the Regal Princess they have to come to a U.S. port to do it.
The study does not break down the nationalities of cruise passengers embarking on cruises from U.S. ports.