CRUISERS: WHAT THEY DO WHEN THEY GET OFF THE SHIP

This paper looks at the cruise ship industry in Bar Harbor, Maine, with an emphasis on the economic impact of passenger spending and the likelihood of return visitation. The analysis is based on 1,080 passenger surveys conducted in 2002. Study findings show that cruise ship passengers have higher household incomes, and are older and more likely to be female than the typical Maine visitor. Survey respondents stayed an average of five hours and twenty minutes in port, and a large number of passengers took a tour of Acadia National Park. The typical respondent spent an estimated $105.82 in Bar Harbor, including cruise-line sponsored tours. Collectively, cruise ship passengers had a $12.1 million impact on local sales revenue, including multiplier effects, and supported 275 full and part-time jobs in Bar Harbor in 2002. The cruise ship industry is especially important to the Bar Harbor economy in October, when passengers accounted for an estimated 64 percent of retail sales and 26 percent of restaurant and bar sales. About one-third of the survey respondents indicated that they were planning to return to Bar Harbor within a two-year time frame. Econometric analysis shows that the distance between a person’s place of residence and Bar Harbor has a negative effect on the likelihood of return, while the number of past visits a passenger has made to Bar Harbor and the amount of time spent in town during the one-day cruise ship visit both increase the prospects of a return trip