Record Number of Cruise Ships Sailing Down in NZ
New Zealand is set to welcome a record number of cruise ships this summer, including an unprecedented six ships making their inaugural visits to the country.
28 ships from its members' fleets would cruise to New Zealand over the coming months - an increase of more than 25 per cent on last year's summer season, said Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia.
According to CLIA Australasia Commercial Director Brett Jardine, the visiting flotilla will make more than 600 calls to New Zealand ports between October 1, 2015 and April 30, 2016, injecting hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy.
Jardine said the current growth of cruising in New Zealand was underlined by the fact that six of the CLIA member cruise ships visiting this summer would be making their inaugural calls to New Zealand.
Although the New Zealand cruise market is still small by international standards, the equivalentof 1.4 per cent of New Zealand’s population took a cruise last year (up 0.1 per cent on 2013)giving the nation a greater market penetration rate than established cruise markets like Spain (1per cent) and France (0.9 per cent).
CLIA has warned that the future growth of the local cruise industry will be affected by the introduction of the Border Control Levy in New Zealand.
