The number of American travelers aboard cruise ships visiting Lisbon grew by 80% in the first half of 2008, compared to 2007, according the the Port of Lisbon. This follows significant upgrades and marketing to attract more cruise ships and passengers to Lisbon. In the fist half of 2008 some 46,310 American passengers came to Lisbon on cruise ships, versus 25,604 in the same period the year before. Lisbon hosted a record 349 thousand passengers through October 2008, up 44% over all of 2007 – the best year ever for the city near the Atlantic, on the Tejo River. Passengers in transit, or just stopping by, was up 47%, to 321,000 from January to October 2008 when some 267 ships docked a the cruise terminal.