Tourism officials will travel to Florida next week on a mission to attract more cruise ships to the north-east.
Visit Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen Harbour representatives will attend the Seatrade Cruise Global conference in Fort Lauderdale from March 13 to 17.
They will meet with leading industry professionals from across the globe and discuss plans to bring more maritime tourism to Aberdeen and the rest of the north-east.
Visit Aberdeenshire has long targeted the global cruise industry, and believes the plans for a £350million extension at Aberdeen Harbour will help crank up momentum for Aberdeen’s tourism sector.
The project could be completed by 2020.
Jenni Fraser, business development director at Visit Aberdeenshire, said: “Aberdeen Harbour is one of the busiest ports in the UK, attracting over 8,000 vessels in 2016, but only 12 cruise ships docked here last year.
“We have a significant growth opportunity thanks to the Aberdeen Harbour extension plans to attract the more commonly-used large cruise vessels.
“That wasn’t possible before as the current port is too small to accommodate these ships.
“We believe the new port and Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire will be of real interest to cruise providers, as it will allow ships to dock on the quayside rather than rely on a taxi boat service like many other ports throughout the UK.
“Passengers can step off the boat and be in the city centre in less than five minutes.
“These vessels will bring in a vast amount of people who will be able to access easily the vast number of fantastic attractions the north-east has to offer.
“We have so many castles, whisky distilleries, golf courses, festivals and more for tourists to visit.
“But it’s not just people that are on holiday that are on these cruises, it’s also the members of staff on board who are looking for hairdressers, chemists, and so on – visits from cruise ships have a great knock-on effect for local economies.
“This would be a fantastic help for Aberdeen’s tourism and economy in the future.”
