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Data show COVID-19's impact on New Zealand cruise business

The 2019-20 cruise season in New Zealand, which would have gone through until April, ended abruptly in March and, as expected, the early closure resulted in lower expenditure.

Helen Hutcheon, Australasia correspondent

October 14, 2020

1 Min Read
Credit: Seatrade Cruise News

Information released by Stats NZ shows that cruise ship expenditure was down 3.2% from the 2018-19 year.

Cruising's value

However, despite the early termination, the value of cruising was still substantial — NZ$547m.

There were 283,000 cruise passengers, down 12% from 2019.

Spending by cruise visitors fell to NZ$356.4m, down 3.5% (NZ$13.1m) on the previous year. This covered shore excursions, including overland tours, and spending ashore by passengers and crew.

Australia biggest source market

Australians continued to be the main source of international passengers (51%), followed by the United States (21%).

The June 2020 year saw a similar age and sex distribution to previous seasons, with three-quarters of  passengers aged 50-plus. Women continued to outnumber men, with 119 females for every 100 males.

Dunedin gets most passengers

Dunedin recorded the most cruise passengers — 191,100 — pipping the capital city of Wellington.

Uncertainty and cancellations

Kevin O’Sullivan, CEO of the New Zealand Cruise Association, said it has not published a cruise schedule for the 2020-21 season because of the high degree of uncertainty and the number of cancellations that continue to mount.

O’Sullivan said so far more than 60% of port visits have been cancelled.

About the Author

Helen Hutcheon

Australasia correspondent

Helen Hutcheon did her cadetship on a shipping magazine and worked in P&O’s Sydney office for seven years as a public relations journalist.

For 19 years she was deputy editor of Travel Week, which was Australia’s leading trade newspaper that covered major local and international industry events.

In 2008 the late legendary Rama Rebbapragada presented her with an award from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd ‘in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the cruising industry.’

In 2010 she won the Neil Frazer Award for ‘outstanding contribution to the cruise industry,’ elevating her to CLIA Australasia’s hall of fame.

She has been the Australasia correspondent for Seatrade Cruise Review since 1997 and for Seatrade Insider (now Seatrade Cruise News) since its launch in 2000.

 

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