Cruise industry contributes over US$3 billion to Caribbean and Latin America

Saturday, November 10, 2018

The cruise tourism generated over 3 billion US dollars in total cruise tourism expenditures to the Caribbean and Latin America.

According to the new study released today by Business Research and Economic Advisors (BREA), Economic Contribution of Cruise Tourism to the Destination Economies, cruise tourism directly generated US$3.36 billion in total cruise tourism expenditures—more than six percent higher than the record set by the previous study in 2015.

The cruise tourism industry also contributed nearly 79,000 jobs paying more than US$900 million in wage income in the 36 participating destinations. The study measured direct spending impacts through passenger surveys and crew surveys; cruise line spending for services and provisions; port revenues; and employment generated by cruise ship calls. The measurement of economic impacts was calculated by collecting data from local government agencies, regional development agencies and international economic agencies to evaluate impacts on employment, wages, port fees and taxes. The Caribbean and Latin America destinations welcomed around 25.2 million onshore visits from cruise passengers, with an average spending of US$101.52, generating a total of US$2.56 billion. The cruise lines spent $534 million, an average of US$14.8 million per destination.

The 29.6 million passenger and crew visits represent a 5.2 percent increase compared to the previous study, and the 32 common destinations in the 2015 and 2018 studies experienced a 6.5 percent increase in passenger visits. The average per passenger spend increased for 23 of the 32 common destinations, and 12 destinations recorded average spend rates above US$100 per passenger (up from nine in 2015).

On average, a single transit cruise call with 4000 passengers and 1,640 crew generates US$378,500 in passenger and crew spending alone: US$339,500 and US$39,000, respectively.

The study also did not account for other indirect benefits, such as spending from cruise passengers who return as stay-over guests; nor did the study measure other methods of cruise line spending that benefits destinations, including NGO partnerships and marketing.

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