A record $16 million has been pumped into the visitor economy as a direct result of South Australia’s cruise ship industry, new figures show.
Tourism Minister Leon Bignell said this was an increase of 30 per cent – up from $11.4 million – compared with the previous year.
The strong cruising sector also indirectly generated $6.7 million into our visitor economy.
“Cruise ships continue to bring in a huge amount of people to our state – both internationally and domestically – as well as putting them in touch with our regions with ports in Port Adelaide, Kangaroo Island and Port Lincoln,” he said.
South Australia welcomed a record 32 cruise ship visits to our ports this past season which ran from October 26, 2014 to March 29, 2015.
This is up from 26 ship visits the previous year.
South Australia also recorded 55,054 passengers and 11,765 crew members in the 2014-15 season – an increase of 34 per cent.
This season, South Australia welcomed some of the largest ships operating in Australia with the Celebrity Solstice, the Voyager of the Seas, and for the sixth consecutive year, the return of the Queen Mary 2.
“The cruise industry in South Australia looks set to continue to grow with 38 scheduled cruise ships visits for the 2015-16 cruise season, which will commence in November 2015,” he said.
“This will include 23 ship visits to Adelaide, 10 ship visits to Kangaroo Island, four ship visits to Port Lincoln and one ship visit to Robe, bringing 88,693 passengers and crew to South Australia.”
The economic impact report of cruise shipping in Australia for 2014-15 was released at the Cruise Down Under (CDU) Conference in Darwin.
Overall the international visitor economy has reached a record high of $774 million in South Australia.
SOURCE South Australian Tourism Commission