In 2019, there were 893 cruise calls and 817,000 cruise passengers visiting Scotland. With this, an estimated £40.6 million was spent directly onshore by passenders and crew in Scotland (VisitScotland, 2020).

The Port of Aberdeen and Peterhead Harbour are the two harbours in the region which tend to recieve cruise calls. In 2019, 28 vessels with 3,340 passengers called at Port of Aberdeen whilst 7 vessels with 1253 passengers called at Peterhead Harbour. The estimated combined spend in the region was £0.3 million (ekosgen, 2020).

The Port of Aberdeen, particularly the South Harbour, has become a destination for cruises over the last few years. There are berthing options for small boutique vessels up to vessels 300m in length, with the largest vessel to visit the Port so far being the Costa Favolosa cruise ship - 290m long with 13 decks and weighing 113307 gross tonnes in weight (Port of Aberdeen, n.d. a).

In 2023, the Port of Aberdeen hosted 43 cruise calls. In 2024 this rose to 49 bringing almost 24,000 guests to the region. In 2025 there are over 60 vessels expected to call at the Port between April and September bringing an estimated 40,000 visitors (Port of Aberdeen, 2023; 2024; 2025).