AN inquiry will be launched today into how Southampton can make more money out of the million cruise passengers that will visit the city this year.

Major players from the port, cruise companies and associated businesses will be called to give evidence to a council panel in coming months.

The City Council reckons Southampton could benefit more from the cruise passengers that pass through the port following a fivefold increase in numbers in the past decade.

Councillor Royston Smith, leader of Southampton City Council, said: “Southampton is the true home of cruise liners in the UK.

"It is therefore vital that the council and its partners explore every opportunity to enhance cruise passengers’ experience of the city, whether they are embarking, disembarking or stopping to visit.”

Southampton is now home to some of the world’s largest and best known cruise liners and is expected to welcome 360 ships this year, each injecting an average of £1.5m into the local economy.

However civic chiefs are worried spending by passengers is too low.

The council cites a study carried out in 2004 that found passengers accounted for £10.6m, or about one twentieth of the £202m the cruise industry was then worth to the local economy, about £1m per visiting ship. Crew from cruise ships spent around £4.8m of the total.

Now with ever larger ships calling at Southampton and a fifth cruise passenger terminal planned the cash generated by the industry could more than double.

Ray Facey, a former assistant port manager and chairman of Southampton Cruise Partnership which attempted to bring together key cruise industry players, said that while city businesses had reported increased passenger spending in the past six years there “were always ways to improve”.

“There have been considerable strides made in recent years but the council should be applauded for reviewing this and seeing how best to get maximum value,” he said.

He said while the cruise liners’ main concern was to “get people onto the ships as quickly as possible” there had been initiatives to boost spending in the city.

And crew were increasingly splashing money on clothes and electronic goods in WestQuay shopping centre.

City tours and the taxi trade were also helping to keep more cruise cash in the city, he said.

The inquiry will call on ABP port director Doug Morrison and bosses from Carnival UK and Royal Caribbean Cruises, as well as tourism chiefs, taxi and coach business representatives, among others.

It will examine Southampton’s competitive position as a cruise port, the choices made by cruise companies over the position of ships and itineraries, the timing of arrivals and departures, and the way passengers arrive at the port.

Information, promotions and packages that encourage visitors to stay in Southampton will also be investigated. The committee will report back in May.