Despite rough seas in recent months for a cruise-ship industry battered by the ailing economy and swine flu scares, long-term growth in Southern California appears strong enough that Los Angeles officials are considering building a $1-billion terminal to handle an expected explosion in the number of passengers in the coming decade.

A new report analyzing trends in cruise-ship travel originating out of San Pedro Bay contends that despite strong competition and a highly saturated market, the region has rapidly emerged as one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most lucrative ports of call.

The study by Menlo Consulting Group, a California-based travel and tourism industry research firm, found that though cruise-ship travel around Europe and the Caribbean has flattened in recent years, growth here could average between 3 and 4 percent annually through 2020. At the Port of L.A. alone, that represents some 1 million new passengers – about 100,000 annually – between 2012 and 2022.

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