Kiwi cruise spend up
CRUISING continues to grow from strength to strength in New Zealand with new figures revealing a record level of cruise ship expenditure for the 12 months to 30 June.
The data published by Stats NZ showed total cruise expenditure in New Zealand had risen to NZ$569.8 million, representing a significant 28% lift in spend on the corresponding period last year.
CLIA Managing Director Australasia Joel Katz welcomed the positive numbers suggesting the numbers demonstrated the important contribution cruise tourism makes to the New Zealand economy.
“New Zealand has become an incredibly popular destination for international cruise passengers and the financial impact they have reaches deep into the local economy,” Katz said.
Tassie preps cruise push
The Tasmanian Government has backed up its recent rhetoric about making a deeper commitment to the cruise sector, recently unveiling a cruise masterplan that details an ambitious target of growing cruise passenger spend from $30.5 million to $50 million by 2022.
Commenting on the new Sustainable Cruise Blueprint, the state’s Premier Will Hodgman said it would “ensure the benefits of cruise ships are shared by even more Tasmanians and supports our plan for visitors to stay longer and spend more time in regional areas”.
The plan also includes the goals of increasing the participation rate of organised shore tours from 40% of cruise passengers to 50% by 2022, as well as growing the number of repeat visitors from 10,960 in 2019 to 15,000 during the same period.
In-Seine looking ships
Viking Cruises has continued its run of fleet expansion announcements by revealing plans to add four new “Viking Seine Ships” to its stocks by 2021.
The four 135m-long, 168-passenger Seine vessels are specifically designed to navigate the Seine river and will be equipped with customised hulls and engines to maximise efficiency on the French waterway.
When operational, the ships will service Paris to Paris voyages leading in at $3,495ppts for a range of 2021 travel dates.
