The UK cruise industry is now worth €3.26 billion (£2.58 billion) per year to the country's economy, a new report published by CLIA Europe shows.

The industry’s economic impact grew by 3.3% last year on 2014, a threefold increase of the 1% growth rate it experienced in 2014 on the previous year, CLIA Europe figures show. The industry’s growth rate in the UK was also higher than the 2% in all of Europe in 2015, the figures reveal

Employment in the UK cruise industry grew by 4.1% to 73,919 jobs and accounted for 20 percent of the market share in Europe. An estimated 16,397 of this total were directly employed by cruise lines and earned €605 million (£479 million), the equivalent of 22% of the total compensation impacts for Europe.

About 10,000 new jobs were created across Europe, with 360,571 now employed in cruise and cruise-related businesses. Wages and other benefits for European workers reached €11.05 billion (£8.72 billion).

The port of Southampton has maintained its position as the number one embarkation and disembarkation port in Northern Europe, with a total of 1.75 million passengers passing through in 2015.

“It was another successful year for British ports overall; in total over one million UK and international passengers visited a British port during a cruise, a figure that has more than doubled in six years,” CLIA Europe said in a statement.