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ICCL News Release Archives
CRUISE INDUSTRY SPENT $1.5 BILLION IN CALIFORNIA IN 2004
(ARLINGTON, Va.) Sept. 1, 2005 -- The cruise industry spent nearly $1.5 billion in California in 2004, supporting 44,667 jobs which paid $1.9 billion in wages and salaries. In an annual economic impact study commissioned by the International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL), Business Research and Economic Advisors (BREA) found that California was the beneficiary of more than 10 percent of direct cruise industry spending and 14 percent of jobs generated by the cruise industry in the United States last year. The state ranked second in the nation in cruise industry spending.
California has four major cruise ports - Los Angeles, San Diego, Long Beach and San Francisco. The state handled approximately 1.1 million cruise passengers in 2004, or 13 percent of all U.S. embarkations, and experienced a 35 percent increase in passenger embarkations in one year. Los Angeles, the fifth busiest U.S. cruise port in 2004, handled 470,000 passenger embarkations, growing by 16 percent. San Diego experienced 114 percent growth with 173,000 passenger embarkations, San Francisco grew by 67 percent with 85,000 passenger embarkations, and Long Beach, which was also in the top 10 ports for U.S. market share, increased its embarkations by 35 percent with 367,000 passengers. California also is a major passenger source market for cruise lines with 1.2 million Golden State residents taking a cruise last year.
"We are pleased that the Port of San Diego plays a major role in contributing to the economic growth of the state and the local region through its cruise ship operations," said San Diego Board of Port Commissioners Chairman William A. Hall. "The Port processed over 400,000 passengers and handled nearly 200 homeport and visitation cruise ship calls in 2004 and we expect those totals to increase substantially as we continue to improve the Cruise Ship Terminal infrastructure."
The concentration of cruise line administration and operations in California created nearly $1.5 billion in direct expenditures in the state, or 10 percent of cruise industry spending in the United States. California is home to the headquarters and support facilities for several cruise lines. Princess Cruises and Crystal Cruises together employed approximately 3,000 Californians.
Tourism-related businesses such as travel agencies, airlines, hotels, restaurants and ground transportation providers received more than $700 million, or 47 percent of the industry's direct expenditures in California. Another $400 million was spent with food processors, ship repair companies, petroleum refiners, advertising agencies and insurance companies. Direct spending also benefited other business sectors in the state, including: business service providers such as computer services, software consulting and marketing; legal services; apparel manufacturing; and the entertainment and amusement industries, including artwork and producers of musical and theatrical shows.
Nationwide, the North American cruise industry had a total impact of more than $30 billion on the U.S. economy in 2004, an increase of more than 18 percent over 2003. The BREA study also found that the cruise industry supported nearly 316,000 U.S. jobs and paid a total of more than $12.4 billion in wages and salaries in 2004.
The complete economic study can be found on the ICCL Web site at www.iccl.org.
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