The economies of Counties Cork, Kerry and Waterford are likely to be boosted by almost £8 million this year, due to cruise liner traffic generated by the Port of Cork.
This prediction was made in a report published yesterday by the department of economics at University College Cork.
The findings are based on the overall contributions to the region of Port of Cork cruise liner business for last year, which showed that purchases of goods and services came to £5.7 million, of which £940,000 was in wages and salaries.
The report further established that 76 full-time equivalent jobs were created last year and forecast that this year the figure would be 103 jobs.
In 1991 the Cork Port Authority, in conjunction with the Cobh and Harbour Chamber of Commerce, established a co-operative, Cork/Cruise, to begin to market the port aggressively as a cruise liner destination.
The co-op also included representatives of companies involved in the shipping industry, including shipping agents, ground-handling agents, coach operators and those providing individual attractions in the region, such as the Cobh Heritage Centre, the Jameson Heritage Centre and Blarney Woollen Mills.
According to the report, cruise passenger numbers in the Port of Cork grew from 4,475 in 1990 to 17,000 last year. The estimate for this year is that this will reach 26,000 passengers. In addition, crew numbers visiting the port are expected to grow from 2,300 in 1990 to 12,000 this year.
The fact that three counties will benefit from the cruise liner traffic shows that coach operators have been increasingly successful in marketing their own regions once the big liners arrive in Cork.