It’s a familiar sight to see the massive cruise ships at
anchor just off Medano beach, sometimes two or even three of them can be there
at any one time.
There can be no doubt that the worldwide market for cruising
is growing at an astonishing rate with Cabo San Lucas gaining a significant
share of that market (cruising Mexico’s west coast accounts for 8% of the global
cruising market and every ship stops at Cabo).
In 2014, Cabo San Lucas hosted 268,000 passengers sailing
on 129 ships, up 58% and 93%, respectively, from 2013. That number is
set to soar in 2015 with forecasts of 460,000 passengers sailing on 177 ships,
up 72% and 37%, respectively, from 2014.
There can be no doubt that these passengers
represent a significant boost to the local economy. The last informal figures
from the tourist board suggested that each passenger was worth $35 in spending
power to local businesses. However, a recent study in Australia has suggested
that this may well be significantly lower than the real spend. In this study,
conducted by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), they tracked the spending
by cruise tourists both in the ports they embarked/disembarked and in the ports
they stopped. Whilst the most was spent in ports of embarkation, the study
showed that passengers spent between $156 and $204 per person per day in each
destination port of the cruise. The figure depended on the demographic of the
cruise ships themselves, from basic cruises to luxury liners, however the
difference was not significantly higher at the top end.
On this basis, it could suggest that 2015 could potentially
see an injection of $71,760,000.00 from cruise ship visitors
alone!
That’s a lot of tacos and pacific amigos…and
represents a massive opportunity for local businesses to tap into this
lucrative market.
Perhaps this study may spark some
interest in the Los Cabos Tourist Board to conduct a similar study and attempt
to quantify this important market.
The 2015 cruise schedule is available
here.