THE benefits of the cruise sector to Australia’s tourism industry go well beyond the country’s coastline, Tourism Australia Chief Executive Officer Phillipa Harrison believes.
Harrison heaped praise on the cruise sector on the sidelines of the Australian Tourism Exchange last week, saying it is a strong funnel for the visitor economy across the entire continent.
“The love for cruise in Australia is growing and while it is clearly booming for Aussies, we actually get hundreds of thousands of international visitors coming down and cruising our coastlines,” Harrison told CW.
“While we have had a record cruise season and there are more ships here than ever been before, many people think the benefits are just coastal when actually it’s not,” she said.
“Cruise passengers do go into the centre [of Australia], sometimes with the cruise line and sometimes pre and post with tour groups.”
Harrison said cruising can also get overseas arrivals into parts of Australia which are accomodation-constrained.
“We love cruising, we think it’s fantastic that the industry is doing so well.”
Meanwhile, Visit Victoria Chief Executive Officer Brendan McClements said despite some tribulations over port fees in Victoria, which prompted some lines to dump Melbourne as a cruise call, the state takes the sector “very seriously”.
“Cruise is a great opportunity and an increasingly growing part of the market,” he affirmed noting all states have faced challenges when trying to service the “incredible” growth witnessed in the sector.
McClements pointed to Sydney’s own issues with finding somewhere suitable to build a second cruise terminal to ensure growth is not capped.
The Visit Victoria chief also suggested cruise will be important for future visitor dispersal strategies in the state.
“Increasing the opportunity in Victoria includes regional dispersal, because [cruise visitors] get up to the Mornington Peninsula and down to the Great Ocean Road…and we are always paying attention to those opportunities,” he added.
Carnival Corp made the call last Nov for its Princess brand to cease home porting out of Melbourne, and for Cunard to skip Melbourne entirely, due to a hike in port fees. AB