New Zealand Sails Full Speed Ahead

New Zealand Sails Full Speed Ahead

New Zealand cruise passenger numbers look set to almost double in the coming year to over 100,000, pumping millions of new spending into the economy.

Figures released today by Cruise New Zealand showed that direct spending hit a record $249 million last season, and forward passenger bookings for the coming year are looking strong.

Pre-booking for the 2007/2008 season are already 72 per cent higher on last year, with 111,300 people booked on New Zealand cruises compared with 64,800 people last year.

Craig Harris, chairman of Cruise New Zealand and chief executive of McKays Shipping in Auckland, said the introduction of winter cruises had been instrumental in helping extend the season from September to April.

Cruise New Zealand is an interest group for those involved in the New Zealand cruise industry.

“Cruising is increasingly important to New Zealand’s tourism industry, bringing more people in the quieter seasons and taking them to a wider spread of places,” Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said.

With more and more cruise passengers arriving, this provides a great opportunity for tourism operators to develop more products tailored for those visitors while on shore, Mr Hickton said.

Cruise passengers are also high spending visitors. According to an independent economic impact report by Market Economics, the economic impact of each cruise passenger is $3964. The average spend for visitors to New Zealand is $2,829.

Cruising also means more employment, with 2130 full time jobs created last year.

And more people, means more ships. The number of port visits has more than doubled in the past three years, with 437 ships docking in New Zealand ports in the 2006/2007 season compared with 210 in 2003/4.

Cruises are most popular with overseas visitors from North America, which makes up 40 per cent of the cruise market, followed by Australia (16 per cent) and the United Kingdom (15 per cent).

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