The Vanuatu Tourism Office has expressed a desire to appeal to more and varied cruise lines, but recognises it needs to perform upgrade works to port facilities before it can reasonably do so.
Speaking to Cruise Weekly this week, Vanuatu Tourism Office general manager Linda Kalpoi said the country had grand plans to
boost its presence in the sector.
“We’re hoping that next year we’ll be able to participate at Seatrade in Miami and after that we’ll probably look at new cruise ships coming in to Vanuatu but I think the key for us at the moment is to upgrade our wharf facilities, markets, taxis & buses.
“We really need to update that before we go looking for new ships,” Kalpoi added.
Cruising is already a booming source of visitors to Vanuatu, with the country welcoming 242,000 from cruise ships – nearly four times the total tally of Australians that arrived on aircraft services.
The New Zealand Government has committed financially to the upgrades, which will see better terminal facilities, gangways and transport options for excursion pick-up and drop-off.
“We’ve also got a huge beautification project underway as well so that is really going to change the face of the wharf area & the sea-front area in Port Vila.”
“We don’t want to lose the charm of Vanuatu as it is but it’s going to take it to another level in the region that will bring a lot of support to the Vanuatu tourism industry by infrastructure and just lifting the face of the destination.”