The latest marketing campaign by the Scottish capital is focussing on growing Edinburgh’s share of cruise line passengers. The new campaign is hoping to capitalise on the resurgence in cruising holidays and target the high-income ship goers who dominate the Norwegian and Baltic cruise operators. Some £35,000 has been spent to promote Edinburgh including a newly created website dedicated to cruise passengers.

The objective of the push is to increase the presence of Edinburgh on the itineraries of northern European cruise liners as more travel customers are forecasted for this sector. Edinburgh hopes to have increased its passenger numbers by 40% over the next three years. According to the most recent statistics Edinburgh saw around 55,000 in the latest cruise season. Traditionally cruise liners spend more than average tourists and they have been identified as one of the key components in helping Scotland grow its tourism by a planned 50% by 2015.

VisitScotland estimates that the cruise industry represents around £4 million to the country’s economy and tourism has been flagged as one of the key industries in enabling the economic crisis to get back on its feet. The funding for the campaign has come from Forth Ports, Edinburgh Tourism and VisitScotland, the national tourism agency.

Statistics show that Edinburgh is well on the way to achieving its goals with a 5% rise in bookings reported over the past three months.