Cruise market growth in New Zealand has been up 13 percent per annum since 2010, significantly higher than growth of the global tourism market at 7 percent per annum.
“The New Zealand cruise sector is strengthening year-on-year,” says Tourism New Zealand Director Trade, PR & Major Events, René de Monchy.
“The outlook for upcoming seasons is very positive with passenger port days expected to increase almost 40 percent by 2019.”
For the year ending June 2017, around 221,000 passengers arrived by cruise ship for a total of 1.36 million port days, spending a total of around NZ$164 million. Around 93 percent of these passengers were international visitors.
“If cruise was a country, it would be New Zealand’s fourth-largest international visitor market,” says Mr de Monchy.
“The cruise sector has strong benefit for regional growth, as cruise passenger spend is concentrated on key cruise regions outside of the usual visitor hotspots. This includes areas such as Bay of Islands, Tauranga, Napier, Picton, Dunedin and Fiordland.”
The most common cruise itinerary for New Zealand is Trans-Tasman, typically starting in Sydney. As a result, Australia is New Zealand’s largest cruise market, contributing 50 percent of total cruise arrivals (~110,500).
America comes in second, making up 18 percent of cruise arrivals (~39,780), closely followed by Europe with 17 percent (~37,570).
Auckland tops the list as New Zealand’s biggest cruise destination, welcoming 142 cruise ships and 171,000 passengers for the year ending June 2017. Total expenditure by cruise passengers in Auckland over this period was around NZ$96 million.
Otago and Southland came in second-equal, both welcoming 161,000 passengers over this period and contributing NZ$28 million and NZ$7 million respectively.
The Harbour City, Wellington, is New Zealand’s fourth most popular cruise destination welcoming 158,000 passengers. This contributed NZ$25 million to the local economy.
The Bay of Plenty saw the second-largest cruise spend, with NZ$59 million for the year ending June 2017.
“Due to the increasing importance and potential of the cruise industry for New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand remains committed to marketing New Zealand as a cruise destination to the world,” says Mr de Monchy.
Click here to view the latest Tourism New Zealand cruise sector infographic.
For more information about the cruise sector, visit: www.tourismnewzealand.com/markets-stats/sectors/cruise-sector.