Cruise Tourism

While figures have been declining in the tourism industry overall, cruise tourism has experienced year on year growth since 1990. This segment of the tourism market provides destinations with potential to attract high spending visitors to their shores.

Cruise ship expenditure not only contributes to the immediate port area but also to the hinterland economies of the ports.

Despite the recent recession, cruise operators remain optimistic regarding the sector’s prospects. Continued growth in the area has lead operators to invest in capacity expansion and to continually seek new destinations and excursions to satisfy guest’s experiences.

International cruise vessels have visited the island of Ireland since the late 1960’s. Initially arriving at Dublin and Cork, the attractiveness of the island of Ireland as a cruise destination grew to include other Irish ports such as Waterford and Galway and more recently, since 1995, cruise operators have also included Belfast and Derry in their itineraries.

Recognising the potential for growth, a number of ports along with tourism authorities, ground handling agents and ship agents came together in 1994 and formed the all-Ireland marketing cooperative, Cruise Ireland.

Since the launch of Cruise Ireland the island of Ireland has enjoyed significant success in the cruise sector with the number of ships increasing from 61 in 1994 to 202 in 2010, and passenger numbers increasing by over 200%.

Fáilte Ireland commissioned Red C Research Ltd to conduct interviews with international cruise visitors and operators during 2010. Download the research report on Cruise Tourism in Ireland (Word, 2.3MB).

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