At sea – as well as on the field – NSW has dominated Queensland in terms of passenger numbers and market penetration, but also in the growth of raw passenger numbers year-on-year.
Comparing the 2012 and 2013 cruise industry source market reports, compiled by CLIA Australasia, it is clear that NSW and Qld continue to be the biggest source markets, but the Blues are way ahead when compared on a level playing field.
“NSW is batting well above its weight, with 32% of the Australian population but making up 41% of Australian cruise passengers,” CLIA gm Brett Jardine told TD Cruise Update.
“They’re 2-nil up in the State of Origin and 1-nil up in cruising, so that makes it 3-nil,” he joked.
“Queensland is batting a little above its weight, with 20% of the population but 23.4% of cruise passengers…Victoria, however, is underweight, with 24.8% of the population but only 17% of cruise passengers,” Jardine added.
Raw numbers of passengers swelled across the country, with rises in all states and territories.
The biggest difference was the NT, which more than doubled, from 2,082 to exactly 5,000 – an increase of 2,918.
The smallest difference was in ACT, where only 12 more people cruised last year versus 2012.
In NSW, pax numbers increased by 44,754; Qld by 43,697, Vic by 28,537, SA by 11,964, WA by 3,647, and Tas by 3,756.
Cruising’s market penetration also increased in every state and territory, except the ACT, although it had the highest penetration in both years – 5.5% in 2012 and 5.4 in 2013.
NSW went from 4.1% up to 4.6%, Qld rose from 3.3% to 4.2%, Vic increased from 2% to 2.5%, SA from 2.1% to 2.8%, Tas had a similar rise from 2% to 2.8%, WA lifted from 2.6% to 2.7%, and NT leapt from 0.9% to 2.1%.