An economic impact study focused on cruise operations at the Port of Los Angeles shows significant benefits to the Harbor district and greater Los Angeles areas with respect to business revenue, job creation, wages and tax revenue.
In 2006, the 226 ship calls by the three home-ported cruise lines at the Port generated $253.7 million in economic benefits to the Harbor and greater Los Angeles region an average of $1.1 million per ship call.
An additional 39 cruise ships called at the Port in 2006 which were not a part of the study.
According to the study, economic benefit to the Harbor area (San Pedro, Wilmington and Harbor City) equaled $108 million, averaging $478,000 per ship call. Economic benefits to the greater Los Angeles and surrounding counties equaled $146 million in 2006, an average of $622,000 per ship call.
This report confirms that the harbor communities and Los Angeles at large benefit in a wide variety of ways from cruise operations at the Port of Los Angeles,said Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D., executive director at the Port of Los Angeles. Cruise travel is a strong and growing segment of tourism an industry that recognizes Los Angeles as a world-renowned vacation destination. We have the opportunity to grow this business in the years ahead while reducing cruise ship pollution with technologies such as Alternative Maritime Power, which enables ships to plug into clean electric power while at berth.
Revenue is generated by ship operations, as well as crew members and passenger spending. While at dock, cruise ships utilize a variety of local goods and services, supporting jobs and generating revenue for these businesses as well as tax revenue. The types of businesses benefiting from the cruise business include local hotels, food and beverage providers, florists, parking lot operators, linen and laundry services, maintenance and repair companies, travel agencies, garbage disposal services, fuel providers and a variety of ship-servicing companies. Hotel stays for cruise passengers averaged 875 rooms per ship call, for a total of 197,700 rooms in 2006.
In addition, the crew aboard the larger ships can number more than one thousand people, all of whom spend an average of $107 per Port visit, almost half of which was spent in the Harbor area. Average spending by cruise passengers is $75 per person, more than 35 percent of which is spent locally.
In terms of employment, approximately 1,277 jobs in the Harbor area are generated by cruise operations at the Port, as well as an additional 1,202 jobs in the region. Related wages equaled $52.5 million in the Harbor area alone, and $36.6 million for the balance of the five-county Southern California region.
State and local tax revenue generated by cruise ships in 2006 equaled $9.7 million, $5.7 million of which was generated in the Harbor area.
The economic impact analysis on the cruise business at the Port of Los Angeles was conducted by Martin Associates, a widely-recognized expert in the evaluation of economic impacts created by maritime activity. Only the cruise business at the Port of Los Angeles was studied in this report. Cruise operations at the neighboring Port of Long Beach were not factored into the study.
