The cruise industry is often praised for its ability to transport thousands of people in and out of a destination in a single day, but should it be more accountable for its impact on local communities? Will Payne investigates

From action-packed tours of the British Isles to laid-back voyages around the Med, being able to visit multiple destinations over the course of one holiday is arguably the biggest selling point for a holiday at sea. It’s one of the reasons why cruising remains one of the fastest growing sectors in the travel industry.

Last month, Barrhead Travel revealed that cruise sales helped the agency record its “best-ever” Sunshine Saturday, while Riviera Travel reported a 50 per cent increase in year-on-year wave period sales through its travel agent partners.

Passengers aren’t the only ones who stand to gain from a cruise holiday, though. Thanks to the hop-on, hop-off nature of cruising, local economies benefit from an influx of passengers who otherwise might never have visited the region ordinarily. However, as the volume of tourists disembarking during peak periods increases, some communities aren’t seeing the benefit.

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Councillor Frank Lott, who represents the Riverside Ward in North Tyneside which covers the Port of Tyne, told Cruise Trade News that coach companies, which provide excursions for passengers, “deliberately” avoid the local area. He thinks it’s a ploy to appear to passengers that they are providing a “worthwhile tour” by going beyond the port’s immediate vicinity.

“The coach companies which provide excursions for passengers deliberately avoid the local area as it would appear that they were not providing much of a tour by staying in the locality – which has a great deal of interest to offer,” Lott said. “They travel to places of interest around the north-east, such as Durham, Holy Island and Beamish Museum.”

And of course, there’s the environmental impact, too. According to Friends of the Earth, a single mid-sized cruise ship emits the equivalent pollution of a million cars each day. When in port, ships emit 20 times more than a highly polluted roadway, so it’s not simply a case of small port towns carrying the burden of welcoming large passenger numbers and not seeing the benefits of increased tourism spend.

Government intervention

The Scottish government is considering plans to clamp down on cruise calls with a tax on vessels docking in port cities. The Scottish Green Party said the proposed levy will tackle the “twin challenges” of reducing emissions released by ships while they’re in port and the impact tourists have on local communities.

Jacqueline Dobson, president of Barrhead Travel, told Cruise Trade News one of her aims in her new role as president of the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association is to convince Holyrood to “create a positive cruise policy” in the country.

“We need to decide what exactly this tourism levy is,” she said. “We’re working with the government to try and avoid it at first, and then if it does come in to force, how it will be managed and what it will be used for.”

Dobson warned the levy could have a “detrimental” impact on cruising in Scotland by putting lines off from stopping in the country. Between 2014 and 2019 there was a 90 per cent growth in cruise ship calls in Scotland, and Port of Aberdeen is gearing up to welcome more than 100 cruise ships annually by 2027, compared to just 21 in 2022.

Buoyed by the arrival of larger ships at the port’s new Aberdeen South Harbour, local businesses and attractions are preparing up for another busy year of increased footfall from cruise calls.

Success stories from 2023 include the expansion of Aberdeen Whisky Shop to accommodate whisky tasting for cruise tourists and St Machar’s Cathedral, which saw 42,000 visitors.

According to CLIA, passengers spend £600 per person in port cities over the course of a seven-day cruise. It is estimated that cruise calls in Scotland generate £104,000 per cruise, which suggests £40.6 million was spent by passengers shoreside in 2019. CLIA UK and Ireland managing director Andy Harmer said: “It’s about working with Scottish politicians so there’s an understanding of the economic value cruise brings.

“Cruise already contributes to the Scottish economy, and that’s not just through guest spend, but also through lines buying local produce, taxes and job creation.”

Elsewhere, Liverpool saw its cruise terminal welcome just three ships when it opened in 2007. Since then, it has handled more than 1,000 cruise ships, welcomed more than 1.8 million passengers and injected over £111 million into the local economy.

According to Liverpool City Council (LCC), which owns the terminal, the hub is now worth approximately £18 million per annum.

Despite the uptick in value in recent years, LCC confirmed its intention to transfer the ownership of the port to the private sector in a bid to cut its losses on the terminal – which it deemed “unsustainable” – signalling its lack of faith in the port as an income-generating outlet.

Regardless of what the council described as “healthy” income generated from berthing fees, “increasingly high, uncontrollable costs” have resulted in a net shortfall to the authority of circa £300,000-£700,000 per year, which it says it can no longer sustain.

CLIA data shows one full-time job is created for every 24 cruise travellers, and more than 63 per cent of cruisers say they have returned to a destination they first visited via cruise call.

Positive signs

While Liverpool and Scotland have aired their concerns about cruising, Hull City Council has moved to increase the number of cruise ships it takes after councillors gave the green light to a new terminal late last year.

According to a report on the plans, the majority of responses received were supportive of the 2027 proposal for a new cruise facility, recognising the boost it could provide to the local economy.

However, some locals expressed concerns regarding the impact the new terminal could have on residents, while others questioned whether there was either demand for such a facility or the funds required to deliver the project.

Harmer is still adamant that domestic cruise calls in the UK are a force for good. “We take people to coastal communities that, in some cases, have been left behind over the past 10 years economically,” he explained. “We take people to places they may not ordinarily visit on a UK holiday. As a way of showcasing other parts of the UK, it’s perfect.”

Associated British Ports (ABP), which operates the UK’s biggest cruise terminal in Southampton, calculated that there is a £2.7 million benefit to the regional economy per cruise ship call, equating to around £1.35 billion per year based on an average of 500 ship calls.

A stone’s throw from the port is WestQuay Shopping Centre, a retail and leisure destination that acts as a gateway to the city centre for passengers disembarking from cruise ships. “We are lucky that we are situated beside such a thriving cruise port and can see as many as five ships docked per day,” a spokesperson for the centre told Cruise Trade News.

While not being reliant on cruise ships, WestQuay admitted passengers were a “welcome boost” to its footfall, which is roughly 17 million people per year.

Neighbouring port Portsmouth, meanwhile, estimated each cruise call can bring in up to £1.5 million to the local economy, and in 2022 the hub contributed £189 million to the area.

As a council-owned port, it contributes around £9 million to Portsmouth City Council’s budget each year, making it a vital economic driver for the city and its essential services.

The government’s Levelling Up Funding contributed £11.25 million towards Portsmouth International Port’s new terminal extension, which was required due to an anticipated increase of 250,000 passengers over the next few years.

Looking to the future

During the pandemic, domestic itineraries were the cruise industry’s saving grace as international ports shut up shop in a bid to curb an influx of Covid-19 cases. At the same time, UK sailings helped inject vital funds into local communities while taking people away from the dreary reality of furloughs and lockdowns.

Fast-forward three years and UK cruising remains vital to local economies, through port fees and the generation of thousands of jobs. To push this message through to critics, the industry must clearly demonstrate the positive work it does to support port towns, while encouraging customers to visit smaller communities as well as the larger hot spots.

Questions will always be raised over cruise’s impact on port destinations, as ships increase their capacity while UK cities struggle to make ends meet in trying financial times.

But ports strengthening their mooring capabilities, lines launching more UK sailings and the government investing more in developing cruise terminals all suggest that domestic itineraries remain critical to both the cruise industry and the UK’s local economy.