The direct expenditures generated by the industry reached €16.89 billion, up from €16.6 billion in 2014. In 2015, the cruise industry also generated more than 10,000 new jobs across Europe, with 360,571 now employed in cruise and cruise-related businesses. Wages and other benefits for European workers reached €11.05 billion. Even as the cruise industry continues to grow in other regions of the world, Europe remains a vibrant hub for cruising.
This trend is supported by three key factors:
• Europe represents the world’s second biggest source passenger market – 6.6 million Europeans went on a cruise holiday in 2015, 3 percent more than in 2014.
• Europe remains the world’s second most popular cruise destination, second only to the Caribbean. The study showed that 6.12 million passengers embarked on their cruises from European ports in 2015, 4.5 percent more than the previous year.
• As the centre of the world’s cruise shipbuilding, European shipyards continue to build the world’s most innovative and largest ships with spending on new builds and maintenance increasing for a fourth year.
48 cruise ships are currently on the order books of European shipyards until 2019, with a total value of more than €27 billion. In 2015, cruise lines spent €4.6 billion in European shipyards, representing a 1.2 percent increase in their revenue compared to 2014.
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