Australia prepares for biggest cruise season

Rising demand for cruise holidays in Australia has fuelled the country’s biggest ever summer cruise season, with a record flotilla of cruise ships scheduled to sail Down Under over the coming months, including many newcomers.

According to the Australasian chapter of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), 38 ships from its member cruise lines will sail in Australian waters this summer, eight of which will be making their maiden visits.

Over the 2014-15 Southern Hemisphere summer season, 36 CLIA member cruise ships visited Australia, including three ships making their inaugural visit.

CLIA Australasia’s commercial director, Brett Jardine, said the growth in maiden ship visits was an indicator of the rising popularity of cruising in Australia.

“Cruise lines around the world are looking for new destinations and new homeports for their ships, and Australia is hot property right now,” Jardine said. “Not only do we have fantastic ports to visit and great weather, we also have a population that can’t wait to cruise, and that’s encouraging more cruise lines to send more ships our way.”

A total of 1,003,256 Australians took a cruise holiday in 2014, marking the first time the country has exceeded the one million mark. This represented a growth rate of 20.4% compared to 2013, and means that 4.2% of Australians took a cruise last year – the highest level of market penetration in the world.

sourced:traveldailymedia.com