Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cruise ship passengers visited (a) UK ports and (b) surrounding areas as part of their itinerary in the last 12 months; and if he will make an assessment of the contribution of these visits to the economy.

The Department for Transport does not hold data on transit cruise passengers, so we are unable to provide data on the number of cruise ship passengers who visited UK ports and surrounding areas as part of their itinerary in the last 12 months or an assessment of the contribution of these visits to the economy.

The Department for Transport does publish cruise passengers who start or finish their cruise journey at a UK port, which includes all passengers on domestic and international cruise journeys.

The data published by the Department for Transport on cruise passenger numbers can be found at the following link in table SPAS0101 for international cruise passenger numbers and SPAS0201 for domestic cruise passenger numbers. Sea passenger statistics: data tables (SPAS) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).