CRUISE tourism’s economic impact has fallen by more than a billion dollars from last year, according to a report from Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and the Australian Cruise Association (ACA).
The sector delivered a $7.32 billion economic impact for Australia during the 2024-25 season, which, while among the highest-ever results cruise has delivered, is an alarming 13.2% decline on last year’s record contribution.
Passengers are still spending high across Australia, according to the report; however, as previously warned by the industry, this has not stopped the leakage of cruise tourism to other countries.
CLIA and the ACA are now calling for a national action plan across federal, state, and territory governments to support cruise tourism, improve Australia’s competitiveness, attract more ships, safeguard jobs, and create greater economic opportunities around the country.
“Australia’s cruise community has been warning for some time that we risk losing tourism to other countries because of a difficult regulatory environment and high operating costs,” CLIA Managing Director Joel Katz said.
“This report confirms we face headwinds and that action is needed to create a better environment for cruising.”
ACA Chief Executive Officer Jill Abel added: “Cruise passengers spent more than $1.82 billion around Australia last year, but this was down 5.9% because there were fewer ship visits.
“Australia needs to create a coordinated national approach to cruise tourism, bringing together all elements of government and industry.”
Abel said she believes this year’s downturn in economic output for the sector may take as long as two years to recover.
Abel, speaking to tB in the wake of this week’s economic impact report, said the extended scheduling timeline the cruise sector works on means the industry should not expect to see figures jump straight back up.
“I think it’s going to take a couple of years…we are doing projections, we believe this is going to take another 12 months to 24 months before we start to see that growth,” Abel conceded.
However the ACA head said the Australian cruise sector should not take any return to form for granted, and that industry and government needs to work together to reverse the course.
“We need to act and be proactive right now, and not rest on our laurels and think it’s all going to come back on its own,” she said.
Katz told tB: “An individual state or territory or region can’t work in isolation when it comes to cruise.
“We need to bring it all together under a national framework so that we can absolutely maximise the potential here in Australia, get those policy settings correct, reduce the red tape, and give the cruise lines the certainty they need for that long-term planning so that we can get those ships back Down Under.”
