Cruise ships will bring in big cash to North Wales

Cruise Wales director Margaret Llewellyn said the nation had been left behind in the past by Scotland and Ireland but the market was growing.

Next year ten ships are booked in at Anglesey with a predicted £800,000 pumped into the local economy from high spending passengers and also crew members.

Hyder Consultancy (UK) Ltd are undertaking design options for the future development of the existing Anglesey Aluminium Metals jetty, with the consultation due to be completed by September.

They are examining the options which could include a 'Dolphin' mooring point which is a large piece of concrete embedded in the sea bed which vessels can attach themselves to.

The cost of the upgrade, funded by the Welsh Assembly and backed by Anglesey council, is estimated at around £9m.

Ms Llewellyn told MPs on the Commons Welsh Affairs Committee bookings could treble in three years. This could pump £3m annually into the Anglesey economy.

"By 2013 we would like to see 30 ships. We don't think that is too aspirational. Dublin does over 70," she said.

A joint bid, called the Celtic Wave, for European cash to boost three Welsh ports, including Holyhead, and three in Ireland, is under way with Anglesey council leading on the bid.

"We want to be the next Baltic. That's our ambition," she added.

Each passenger that visits the region on a cruise stop off can spend between £15 -130.

The committee was told there was nothing to stop larger cruise ships calling at Holyhead if some modifications were made to the jetty.

Ms Llewellyn said: "The jetty that exists, with some modification, will secure any size cruise vessel with the exception of the Oasis of the Seas.”

An Assembly spokesman said: “The creation of improved facilities at Holyhead for cruise liners is a key project in the Mon a Menai Action Plan designed to boost tourism in the region – and the marketing campaign to make Holyhead a cruise ship port of call has been markedly successful.”

Sasha Davies, head of Economic development at Anglesey council, said: “We have always keen to develop Anglesey and north west Wales as a destination for cruise-ships. Anglesey County Council has been the lead body in the Celtic Wave bid in partnership with other Irish and Welsh bodies.”

(Article taken from www.dailypost.com)