Cash rolls in from cruise lines
The economic impact of cruising continues to soar in relation to its growing appeal among consumers, a new report has found.
Spending by international cruise lines in Australia hit $1.77 billion in the 2011/12 financial year, up from $1.1b. When domestic passengers are included total spend rises to $2.4b, according to Cruise Down Under’s (CDU) annual economic assessment report.
CDU chairman Chris White said the results exceeded expectations and showed an industry that is outperforming other sectors.
“It demonstrates the continued positive growth trend for the cruise industry, despite the ongoing global economic challenges,” he said. “The CDU study has been released every year since 2005 and now provides us with eight years of robust analysis of the contributions to the Australian economy provided by this continually growing industry.”
The growth was largely attributed to an increase in cruise ship visits to Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Fremantle.
The study revealed total passenger expenditure climbed from $303m in 2010/11 to $443m with the number of passenger days in port rising from 1.08m to 1.46m.
While the number of cruise ships in Australian waters during the 12 months to June 30 was static at 42, they were bigger vessels and stayed longer.
Capacity increased from 49,254 to more than 54,000 and the number of ports visited climbed from 573 to 736.
The 23,000 crew on cruise ships spent $60m, an increase of $17m on the previous 12 months.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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