Costa Claims Top in European Cruise Market Growth

Costa Cruises said it is Europe’s number one cruise line with a fleet of 14 ships, three new ships due by 2012, a record 1.2 million total guests in 2008 and 1.5 million forecasted for 2010.

According to the latest European Cruise Council (ECC) figures, the expansion of the cruise industry is exceeding expectations in terms of its impact on jobs, wealth creation and inbound tourism in Italy and across the continent.

The fourth edition of the ECC’s European Cruise Contribution report, presented in Rome this week, shows direct expenditure by cruise companies, shipyards and passengers of 14.2 billion euros in 2008 (a 10 percent increase from the previous year), with 4.3 billion euros from Italy (up 9 percent compared to 2007). Italy derives the greatest economic benefits from the cruise industry in Europe 30 percent of total spending in 2008.

A key factor behind this growth is the increasing number of passengers embarking on cruises from European ports, up 10 percent to 4.7 million in 2008. Italian ports are the busiest in Europe with 1.7 million departing passengers. There is a similar pattern for the continent’s transit passengers, who numbered 21.7 million in 2008 (up 14 percent).

Italy remains Europe’s favorite cruise destination with 23 percent of transit passenger movements, followed by Greece (20 percent), Spain (17 percent) and France (8 percent). Europe’s position as the world’s leader in cruise ship design and construction is also helping to drive this growth.

The ECC report estimates that during 2008 the global cruise industry spent around 5.2 billion euros on cruise ship construction and maintenance in Europe. Italy is the country with the biggest slice of the pie, with 1.5 billion euros spent. Another rise for 2008 was seen in the number of Europeans taking holiday cruises, up 10 percent to 4.4 million.