Fully 25 percent of all of the revenues that come into the Tampa Port Authority are due to the luxury cruise ship business, with 60 percent of that business coming from people who drive and park their cars in the long-term lot at Channelside.
Port Authority Director Richard Wainio says that the business has never been better, with an expected 940,000 passengers expected to go through the port during the upcoming cruise season, which begins in November and runs through April. And next year should be better, he promises, with the hopes of attracting a million people walking through the turnstiles.
But after that, the future isn't so rosy.
Speaking to the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization Tuesday morning, Wainio admitted that the Sunshine Skyway Bridge's size (182 feet above the water) is definitely a factor that will limit expansion of that part of the Authority's revenues in the years to come.
