Cruises To Bring Tourism Boost To Fife

Fife is hoping to see a tourism boost this summer as cruise ships descend on the Port of Rosyth.

The industry is vital to Fife, in 2012 there were 5,887 tourism-related full-time equivalent jobs. The first ferries arrive on Monday - volunteers from Cruiseforth will take passengers as far as St Andrews, Dunfermline and the East Neuk. CruiseForth volunteers started greeting ships at Rosyth in 2012 and since then the operation has grown and developed, encouraging more local businesses to take advantage of the cruise market and keeping more visitor spend in the area.

In 2012 Fife was visited by 2.8 million people who spent around £300m. Robert Mason, Head of Cruise for Forth Ports said:

“The ports of Rosyth and Leith have always been a popular destination for the cruise lines and our cruise business is growing each year with an expected 90,000 passengers coming into our Scottish Ports during the 2015 season.

"It’s essential that we make sure we deliver an excellent welcome for the liners coming into the Forth and we were delighted that our volunteer group, Cruise Forth, won the “Warmest Welcome” category at the recent Scottish Thistle Awards. We have ambitious plans to grow our cruise business in Scotland and look forward to a successful 2015 season of visitors.”