Cruise ship tourists: they may be kind of annoying, but they're pretty damn good for our local economy. For the third year in a row the Port of Miami has set a world record for the number of cruise passengers traveling through a port. Despite the economy, that means the port continues to experience growth.
4.15 million people traveled through the port in a the Fiscal-Year of 2009-2010. The surpassed last year's record setting number of 4.11 million people.
The port saw particularly strong traffic between July and September of this year, and saw a ten percent increase over the same period last year.
Even as the economy continues to trudge through tough time, a County press release claims, "record numbers as dollar conscious vacationers opted for cruise vacations as a way to get high value for their travel budget."
Earning the nickname the "Cruise Capitol of the World," the port has been the number one passenger port on earth for two decades now.