cruisemates newsletter

8.30.2007

Cruising - Good for America
Critics of the cruise industry like to spin the notion that cruise ships are foreign-flagged vessels that "invade" our shores carrying throngs of mostly foreign national crewmembers.

But the truth is that the cruise industry is
"All American," in the sense that these ships are owned and operated by U.S. corporate cruise lines with company headquarters in the United States and stock that is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Most significantly, Within the United States, $17.6 billion in direct spending created more than 153,800 direct jobs, paying $5.7 billion in wages. Some 384,000 ancillary jobs, that pay an estimated $14.7 billion in wages, including fuel and food suppliers and hospitality businesses like hotel and transportation services infused an additional $17.6 billion, for a total contribution of $35.7 billion dollars to the U.S. economy in 2006!

These figures come from the independent Business Research & Economic Advisors (BREA) in Exton, PA. who prepared the report for CLIA. The report says that overall spending had an impact in all 50 states, the majority concentrated in 10 states: Florida, California, Texas, Alaska, New York, Hawaii, Georgia, Washington, Illinois and Massachusetts.

These benefits to the U.S. economy came from five principal sources: spending by cruise passengers and crew, shoreside staffing by cruise lines in U.S. cities, expenditures by cruise lines for goods and services, cruise line spending for U.S. port services, and expenditures in U.S. shipyards for maintenance and repair.

Based on passenger survey data, approximately 40 percent of people embarking on a ship chose to stay one or more nights in a port city and spent an average of $289 per visit. The U.S. now has over a dozen cruise ports for embarking passengers, and more U.S. cities are included as port visits on some cruises.

The top 10 U.S. cruise embarkation ports in 2006 were: Miami, Port Canaveral, and Fort Lauderdale FL, Galveston, Los Angeles, New York, Tampa, Long Beach CA, Seattle and Honolulu.

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, which indicates that third and fourth passengers staying in pulldown beds, for example, filled ships beyond their berth capacity.

The study calculated the benefits to the U.S. economy from five principal sources: spending by cruise passengers and crew, shoreside staffing by cruise lines in U.S. cities, expenditures by cruise lines for goods and services, cruise line spending for U.S. port services, and expenditures in U.S. shipyards for maintenance and repair.

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