Scotland ahoy! Cruise-liner boom sees 300,000 visitors come ashore

The total number of ship-borne visitors is expected to have surged by 10-12 per cent to reach 300,000, which tourism chiefs believe represents a “growing opportunity for Scotland”.

They are expected to have boosted the Scottish economy by about £35 million in the country’s fastest-growing tourist sector.

Greenock Ocean Terminal on the Clyde recorded a 10 per cent increase in passengers, to nearly 58,000, with Lerwick in Shetland welcoming nearly 31,000 people and a record 50 liners – two more than last year.

Edinburgh is also expecting to announce a record year, with an increase in the number of large ships – of up to 3,000 passengers each – docking in the Forth.

Aberdeen hosted ten cruise ships compared with six last year, while Inverness welcomed its first for eight years.

The boom is in line with forecasts by industry body Cruise Scotland that passengers could reach one million by 2030 after growing five-fold in the last decade to 270,000 last year.

Cruise Scotland market development manager Gordon Ireland said the country – which already commands 40 per cent of cruise ship visits to the British Isles – had benefited from rising fuel prices.

He said: “Cruise firms are looking for ports close together so ships can travel slower to save fuel. Those in Scotland are very convenient because they are an overnight sail away from each other.”

Denise Hill, head of international marketing at VisitScotland, said: “Over the last ten years, there has been encouraging growth in the cruise sector.

“VisitScotland has been working closely with Cruise Scotland to identify ways to support the industry in exploiting this growing opportunity for Scotland.”

Clydeport, which operates Greenock Ocean Terminal, put its success down to a warm welcome offered to passengers and its ability to berth all sizes of vessels without having to use transfer boats.

Bill Miller, property management and development manager at Edinburgh city council, said it made £300,000 annually from providing a pier in Dalmeny, on the Forth, for passengers to land via transfer boats from cruise ships too large to dock in Leith. He said the number of such vessels docking was expected to almost double to 25 next year, compared with 13 in 2009.

“They have certainly been increasing, with passengers disembarking to take trips to Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland,” he added.

A spokeswoman for Forth Ports said: “Our Scottish ports have had a busy 2011 season, with more than 70 vessels visiting the ports of Leith, Rosyth and Dundee.

“Early indications show an increase in passenger numbers with a large number of bookings for the 2012 season already in place.

“The cruise market continues to grow on the strength of the older age market demand who enjoy the opportunity and flexibility of staying in one ‘hotel’, while being able to visit a number of key locations, while receiving the best customer care and service on board.”