AUSTRALIA’S current growth in the cruise industry could find itself grinding to a screeching halt if requirements on infrastructure are not met by government, CLIA chairman Adam Goldstein has warned.
Goldstein told Cruise Weekly it was clear many cities in Australia did not have the infrastructure to allow the same growth seen in the last ten years over the next ten.
“I cannot sit here today and say that I find that we’re very much closer to the solutions that we need,” he lamented.
The CLIA chairman has this week led a mission of local cruise heavyweights to Canberra, where he discussed the issue with both sides of politics.
“I think that most of the people we talked to are pretty informed, they understand that the equation makes sense, that the growth rate has been robust and the opportunity is there,” he said.
Exacerbating the issue was the fact shipbuilders are no longer designing or constructing vessels capable of fitting under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
“I’ve been very vocal over several visits here that we need to make something happen and that continues to be my position and I think the urgency has clearly increased,” Goldstein said.
“It’s probably inevitable with the passage of time but what was less inevitable was the continued robust growth of the market.”
Speaking at Cruise3sixty this morning Goldstein praised the local trade and the growth seen in recent years – something nobody predicted in the 1990s.
“This is a fantastic country – sophisticated, wealthy and [with] people [that] love to travel.
“The future is bright though we need more infrastructure in order to realise the full benefits of what the future can do,” Goldstein said.
