By: Gillian Lindsay-Nanton
SPECIAL TO THE WEST ORLANDO NEWS
A new report of the ‘Contribution of the North America Cruise Industry to the U.S. Economy in 2008‘ reveals that, while the U.S. experienced a decline in the number of passengers embarking from U.S. ports in 2008, Florida witnessed an increase in passenger embarkation by 133,000, and remains at the center of the cruise industry.
The report notes that, the gains in passenger embarkation in Miami, Port Everglades and Tampa offset the losses in Port Canaveral and Jacksonville and as a result of the net increase, Florida’s share of national embarkations rose by nearly 3 percent to 57 percent.
Total cruise passenger and crew visits to Florida totaled 7.5 million in 2008, a 5 percent increase from 2007.
According to the report, combined, passengers, crew and cruise lines directly spent $6.3 billion in the state of Florida. This spending generated 128,910 jobs paying $5.5 billion in income.
Notwithstanding the increase in cruise passenger and crew visits to Florida, there are some troubling signs for the U.S. cruise industry as a whole.
The Report reveals that the U.S. experienced a decline in its share of global cruise activity, as well as, an actual decline in the number of passengers embarking from U.S. ports in 2008. Passenger embarkations at U.S. ports totaled 8.96 million a decline of 2.4 percent from 2007.
According to the Report, growth of U.S. resident cruise passengers has been steadily declining for the past 5 years and finally turned negative in 2008. Not surprisingly, most of the decline occurred in the second half of 2008 as the U.S. and global economies weakened. This growth has slowed from 13.9 percent in 2004 to -1.7 percent in 2008.
Similarly, growth in spending by the industry and its passengers in the U.S. has slowed, increasing just 2.0 percent to $19.07 billion in 2008.
Despite the decline in the U.S. share of global cruise activity, the contribution of the North American cruise industry is a source of significant economic activity in the U.S. economy. Including indirect economic impacts, the spending of the cruise lines and their crew and passengers accounted for the generation of some $40.2 billion gross output, a 5.9 percent increase over 2007.
In turn, the Report notes that, 357,710 jobs were created throughout the country paying a total of $16.2 billion in wages and salaries.
