DARWIN is riding the crest of a wave spearheaded by luxury cruise lines deploying larger and newer ships to the Kimberley region, Tourism NT has told CW.
Speaking at last week’s NT Muster roadshow in Sydney, Tourism NT Executive Director Tony Quarmby said the Territory is enjoying a boom in travellers enjoying a pre- or post-cruise stay in the Top End.
“[These travellers] are the ones getting off, getting out and doing more tours and more experiences in the Top End,” Quarmby said.
“They’re also doing a lot of the shopping, the restaurants, getting out and doing the tourism around Darwin, so it’s benefiting everybody from the Territory in terms of hospitality and tourism.”
Quarmby said Darwin has benefited from some great international media coverage stemming from major events, such as Seabourn Cruise Line home porting its newest ship Seabourn Pursuit in the NT capital (CW 04 Jul).
“We’ve already seen some of the big ships arriving in our peak months, which usually are the summer months for cruising.
“We’ve seen them throughout the peak months, which has been terrific,” Quarmby said.
He added the organisation is aiming for Darwin to become more of a longer-term viable option for cruise ships as port prices increase in larger ports.
Both Princess Cruises and Cunard Line pulled out of Melbourne last year (CW 29 Nov) due to the soaring costs associated with berthing. ML