CRUISING IS BIG BUSINESS IN THE U.K.

Cunard's Queen Elizabeth

By Brian Wilson
UK Contributor - Cruising Squared

There are now more Cruising opportunities –
Everything seems to be possible!

Cruising is big business in the UK.
The British economy benefited from $3.8 billion of expenditure from the Cruising industry in 2012, according to a report from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

This reflected money spent in the UK by cruise passengers as well as by companies, on staff salaries, ship maintenance and other areas to support their operations.

Expenditure in the UK was up 3.7% on 2011, while the number of British jobs supported by the industry last year rose by 2,000, or 3.5%, to 66,059.

Britain is the second biggest employment market for the cruise industry in Europe after Italy, where it supports 99,556 jobs. Among the UK jobs were 14,677 crew and administrative staff.

The UK is also the biggest market in Europe for cruise passengers, with more than 1.7 million Britons taking to the seas last year.

More than 1.5 million holidaymakers joined or left their cruise in Southampton, making it the busiest cruise port in Europe.

Let’s look at some of the cruise options you can find here in the UK.

BATH B&B SCORES NUMBER TWO ON LIST

Bath scores the number 2 B&B (Credit: TripAdvisor)

Readers of this blog know about our special contributors from the UK -- Brian and Mo. They make their home in Bath, a city of some 84,000 people located almost 100 miles west of London, famed as the site of Roman baths in the First Century. Now, also famous for scoring the number two Bed and Breakfast on TripAdvisor's Top 10 B&B list for the Athole Guest House, which garnered a load of rave reviews. We're going to see if Mo and Brian can give us a first-hand account direct from the scene. -- Gerry