Australia cruise calls rise, spending drops
A report in Seatrade Insider says that statistics from the third annual study of the economic impact of the cruise industry in Australia for 2006/07 reveal that while ship visits were up, the total direct expenditure of A$219.9m (US$179.4m) was down by 7.1% on the previous year.
The AEC Group, which carried out the survey on behalf of Cruise Down Under and the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, said this was due to decreased passenger and crew days in port.
Figures released at CDU 2007 in Darwin last week show that total passenger spend was A$108.1m (down 13%), total crew spend was A$18.5m (up 3%) and total vessel spend was A$93.3m (down 1%).
Total passenger days in port dropped from 396,779 to 327,760 and total crew days in port were down from 171,929 to 162,113.
AEC said ports recording activity were up from 20 to 24 and the number of visiting cruise ships rose from 28 to 35.
The state/territory breakdown of the A$219.9m total direct expenditure was as follows, in Australian dollars: NSW $94.7m, Victoria $25.3m, Queensland $69.9m, South Australia $1.2m, Western Australia $8.9m, Tasmania $10.1m and Northern Territory $9.8m.
The AEC Group’s forecast for 2007/08 is an increase of 60 to 70 cruise ship visits.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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