SCOTTISH ports are expecting a record number of calls from cruise liners this summer, and some of the smallest coastal communities may soon get their own visitors.
The economy will benefit from some 400 calls by cruise ships in 2012, bringing a record 346,500 passengers compared to 318,932 last year and just 64,902 in 1998.
In 2010, the cruise industry was said to be worth £32 million to the Scottish economy and it grew again last year.
Among the vessels lined up to call is one from Costa Cruises –operators of the giant liner Costa Concordia that capsized off the Tuscan coast two weeks ago. The boat will visit the Cromarty Firth and Shetland.
In March, representatives of Scottish ports will go to Florida for Cruise Shipping Miami 2012, the leading international exhibition and conference serving the cruise industry. More than 1800 operators from 66 companies are expected to attend.
As well as encouraging more visits from giant ships carrying thousands of passengers to the Clyde, the Northern and Western Isles and the Cromarty Firth, the Scottish delegation will try to encourage more modest arrivals.
Cruise Scotland was launched at Miami in 2009 and its chairman, Richard Alexander, managing director of Edinburgh-based Morrisons Tours, was confident the market would not be affected by the Italian tragedy that saw more than 30 either dead or still missing. He said: "We haven't seen any impact on figures for Scotland because of the Italian tragedy. Costa came here 10 times last year and they are due to visit Invergordon and Lerwick this year."
For the first time a Finnish ship is due to do "a turn-round" in Scotland. It will take passengers from the Baltic to Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles before disembarking in Greenock. There, replacement passengers will board for the return journey.
Mr Alexander said he wanted to encourage visits by smaller ships, carrying 150 passengers or less.
The strategy was welcomed by Captain Iain Dunderdale, cruise development director of marketing agency Cruise Highlands.
He said: "These smaller ships could go into the likes of Inveraray, Campbeltown, Gigha, Iona, Tobermory, Gairloch, Dunvegan all the way up the west coast. There are so many places they could go and they are not very far apart, which suits the cruise industry.
"But we are going to have to work hard because we are competing against places like Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago, the Arctic and the Norwegian Fjords. We don't have that market to ourselves."
Meanwhile, in Orkney there is particular optimism with Kirkwall having been named the best British port of call in the 2010 UK cruise industry awards, and the islands as a whole were voted the UK's top destination for cruise liners in 2010 and 2011.
So far 74 cruise ships have booked to visit the islands during 2012. Next year is also shaping up as a bumper year, with Princess Cruises making three additional bookings, bringing the total to 32.
These ships have a combined gross tonnage of 1.8 million tonnes and will carry 44,000 passengers and 14,000 crew in total. Those booked for 2012 have a combined gross tonnage of 1.6 million tonnes and together will have 43,000 passengers.
Jim Foubister, of Orkney Islands Council's transportation and infrastructure committee, said: "The gross tonnage figures are important as they dictate the level of port charges applied to each vessel."
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