Recently, Bauke Visser, Professor of Economics of Decision-Making Processes at Erasmus School of Economics, gave his views on the cruise ships that often appear in Rotterdam in an article from Het Algemeen Dagblad. Do those ships really benefit Rotterdam?
Visser was adamant about this several years ago: no. 'Do you really think that a family - dad, mum, one child - sailing on such a cruise ship spends 720 euros in Rotterdam? While breakfast, lunch and dinner on the ship are simply included in the price? 'There is a huge juggling of figures,' the professor argues.
According to Visser, cruise ship revenues are still greatly exaggerated. Recently, the municipality proudly published a report on tourism figures, stating that one cruise ship brings around 780,000 euros to the city. Utter nonsense according to Visser: 'Research shows that cruise passengers spend the least of all tourists. This makes perfect sense. They sleep on the ship, they eat on the ship, they have dozens of cafés and restaurants on the ship'. Rotterdam earns very little from cruise ships.
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You can read the full article from Het Algemeen Dagblad, 29 April 2024, here.