Cruise Industry Pumps Money into U.S. Economy

Most cruise passengers know all about how the cruise industry helps other economies because of the varying nationalities of the staff and crew on board. Today CLIA released a press release that shows how the cruise lines have contributed over $37.5 Billion into the U.S. economy. A few interesting facts on how the cruise industry actually impacts all 50 of the states, and not just the ones with a cruise terminal are shown. With new ships on the way, that number will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. The press release has some very interesting facts that give you an insight into the cruise industry that shows the and impact it has as an industry. The fact that would be the most interesting to cruise passengers would be that last year (2006) the ships were operating on a 104% capacity rate. Unlike the airline industry, capacity on a cruise ship is based on two passengers per cabin, so any extra passengers in the cabin (three to five more passengers can be in a cabin on many ships) is responsible for the number greater than 100%.