In total, 222,378 more Australians enjoyed a cruise between 2015 and 2016, the largest increase in absolute numbers ever recorded.
Article from CruisesNews magazine
The number of Australians who took a cruise in 2017 reached 1,340,000, representing a 4.6% increase over 2016. This represents a slight slowdown from the strong double-digit growth of recent years.
Analysis of cruise passenger numbers over the past 10 years shows a strong growth trend, with figures averaging 19.4% annually since 2007. This growth rate has meant that the number of Australians who have travelled on cruises has quadrupled since 2008, and has almost doubled in the last five years.
Tourism boom in Australia in 2017.
In 2013, the number of Australian cruise passengers surpassed 800,000; a year later, it exceeded 900,000. And in 2015, our antipodes surpassed the one million passenger mark for the first time, registering 1,058,781 passengers. Just one year later, this record was shattered with almost 1.3 million cruise passengers. What are the reasons for this growth?
19.4%: Annual growth in cruise passengers (Average since 2007)
The most important factor is the Australian government's commitment to tourism. 2017 was a record year for travel and tourism in Australia, contributing $153 billion to the economy, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Australia has become the twelfth most powerful tourism economy in the world, thanks to its natural attractions and the ease of obtaining visas. According to the WTTC, tourism accounted for 1.5 million jobs in 2017, representing 12.2% of employment in Australia. The tourism sector grew by 2.3% in 2017, while Australia's GDP grew by 2.2%.
The Australian Cruise Association is helping ports and destinations develop their services and offerings to meet growing demand. The Australian cruise industry ended 2017 with more than 50 different ships calling at the Australian ports, totaling 1,197 port days. Notable calls included the Queen Mary 2, which docked 12 times at six different ports; Royal Caribbean International's Ovation of the Seas, the largest ship to ever call at Australia; and Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Jewel, which hosted NCL's first-ever Australian season. Other cruise lines, such as Viking Cruises with Viking Sun, made their Australian debuts in 2018.
Australia is the source market with the best penetration rate for the cruise product: more than 4%.
Another aspect to highlight is the growth of expedition cruises on the Australian and South Pacific coasts, with operators such as Silversea, Ponant, or the local Coral Expeditions, which have become increasingly popular, as passengers from Australia show more interest in visiting destinations such as Kimberley, the Great Barrier Reef, or Papua New Guinea or Borneo.
RCCL
Royal Caribbean began offering cruises from Sydney in the 2007-2008 season, deploying the Rhapsody of the Seas. As the number of Australian tourists continued to rise, Royal Caribbean decided to send one of its megaships, the Voyager of the Seas, which debuted in Australia in the 2012-2013 season.
In the 2015-2016 season, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Azamara Club Cruises carried more than 250,000 Australian passengers, a 27% increase, injecting over $140 million in passenger spending into the Australian economy. Royal Caribbean introduced two ships to Australia that season: Explorer of the Seas and Legend of the Seas. It was the first year with two Voyager-class ships in Australia, as it shared Sydney as its homeport with Voyager of the Seas, along with Radiance of the Seas. Legend of the Seas diversified the homeports, offering an inaugural season from Brisbane. Royal Caribbean International's four ships offered 72 itineraries, making 371 calls in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, and Asia.
Royal Caribbean and Celebrity offer cruises to Australia only during peak season.
Royal Caribbean International's next leap came a year later with the addition of the Ovation of the Seas, the largest ship in the Australian market. In the summer of 2017/18, the Ovation of the Seas offered its second season from Sydney (which had to be extended due to overwhelming demand), alongside the Explorer of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas, and Radiance of the Seas. In total, they provided 66 cruises ranging from 2 to 22 nights, calling at 46 ports in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. The Legend of the Seas offered its final season from Brisbane. It was one of the few RCI ships that could dock in Brisbane until a new terminal is built east of Gateway Bridges.
For the upcoming Southern Hemisphere summer, RCI will reduce capacity, deploying three ships: the Ovation of the Seas, which will be offering its third and longest season, and will be joined by the Explorer of the Seas and the Radiance of the Seas. The latter will offer the first Royal Caribbean cruises departing from Melbourne and three voyages from Auckland. The three ships will offer 61 cruises, ranging from 3 to 23 nights, with stops in nine countries.
The Explorer of the Seas will continue its voyages to the South Pacific, with itineraries ranging from 8 to 14 nights. This ship will become the largest cruise ship to call at Newcastle in February 2019, following the dredging and adaptation of its docks to accommodate vessels of this size.
Celebrity Cruises debuted in the Australian market on December 22, 2007, the year in which the Mercury arrived in Sydney to offer the first season on the Sixth Continent, which lasted until February 2008. The following year it was replaced by the Celebrity Millennium.
World cruises accounted for 1.5% of the Australian market in 2016, thanks to increased capacity and growing public interest.
However, it wasn't until the 2012-2013 season, with the inaugural Celebrity Solstice season sailing from Sydney, Fremantle, and Auckland, New Zealand, that Celebrity truly made inroads into the Australian market, offering itineraries from 12 to 18 nights. It also offered a circumnavigation of Australia. The cruise was so well-received that in 2019-2020, Celebrity offered its eighth consecutive season in Australia, always combined with summer trips to Alaska. That winter, the ship offered twenty sailings over seven months, its longest season ever in Australia. Highlights included the first Celebrity cruise from Melbourne and the inaugural call at Eden, along with two-day stops in Sydney, Hobart, Cairns, and Tauranga.
Royal Caribbean's third brand, Azamara Club Cruise, completed its first Australian season with the Azamara Quest in 2015-2016. Its sister ship, the Azamara Journey, returned to the continent in 2016-2017, offering 21 port calls and injecting over $2.85 million into the local economy through passenger spending alone. And as further evidence of Australia's importance as a source market, the Azamara Journey set sail from Sydney on March 7th to offer the operator's first-ever World Cruise, which concluded 102 days later in London.
Norwegian Cruise Line
: Last season, NCL, the world's third-largest cruise liner, entered the Australian market and offered its first full season from November 2017 to February 2018 with the Norwegian Jewel, which sailed nine cruises from Sydney to Tasmania, South Australia, and New Zealand. In the upcoming 2018/2019 season, it will return to Australia, offering cruises to Cairns, Hobart, New Zealand, the South Pacific, and Southeast Asia.
NCL is the latest major shipowner to base its vessels in Australia, with the 2017-18 season of the Norwegian Jewel.
The other brands in the NCLH group, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, also have a growing presence in the Australian destination.
Oceania Cruises will offer its third complete circumnavigation of Australia in the 2018/2019 season, a 34-day round-trip cruise from Sydney aboard the Regatta, with stops in Brisbane, Hamilton Island, Cairns, Broome, Exmouth, Perth, Esperance, Adelaide, Portland, Melbourne, and Eden. Oceania has offered two other circumnavigations in its fifteen-year history. Its first circumnavigation took place in the 2016-17 season aboard the Sirena. A second similar voyage occurred this past winter aboard the Regatta.
Regent's Seven Seas Voyager will offer two cruises to Australia and New Zealand in the 2019-2020 season.
Princess Cruises
was one of the first cruise lines to recognize Australia's potential. Princess Cruises' first Australian-based ship, the 700-passenger Pacific Princess, was based there in 2002, offering itineraries tailored to Australians and accepting Australian dollars for onboard payments. Since then, the company's offerings have grown steadily. In 2003, the Star Princess, the first post-Panamax ship based in Australia, arrived. A year later, the Sapphire Princess joined the fleet. Both cruises had relatively short seasons.
Princess has assigned its flagship, the Majestic Princess, to Australia.
But the true milestone in Princess' expansion in Australia came in 2007, when the Sun Princess became the first Princess ship based year-round in Australia. A year later, its sister ship, the Dawn Princess, joined it. In 2008, Princess offered cruises from Melbourne for the first time, becoming the first cruise line to offer a full season from that port. That same year, it also operated the first round-the-world cruise from Australia. In 2015, the Golden Princess arrived in Australia to offer its inaugural season from Melbourne.
Another milestone in its expansion was the arrival, in the 2016-2017 season, of the Emerald Princess, which sailed from Sydney from November 2016 to April 2017, along with the Golden Princess from Melbourne. Both post-Panamax ships strengthened Princess's resident Australian fleet: Dawn Princess, Sea Princess, and Sun Princess, offering cruises from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Fremantle. In that 2016/17 season, Princess's Australian-based fleet offered a record capacity of 11,800 berths, a 20% increase over the previous Australian summer. A total of 120 cruises were offered, with 113 ports of call in 39 countries, including an 84-day cruise around South America on the Sea Princess from Sydney; two circumnavigations of Australia on the Sun Princess in October 2016 and March 2017; and 42-day voyages from Sydney and Brisbane to China and Japan.
Resident ships: Australia is the only country, besides the United States, where Carnival Cruise Lines has year-round resident ships. The same is true for Princess Cruises. In total, the Carnival group deploys nine ships year-round in Australia: five from P&O (Australia) and two each from Carnival Cruise Lines and Princess.
In the 2017-18 season, Princess Cruises reduced its fleet to four ships (Sun Princess, Sea Princess, Diamond Princess, and Golden Princess), maintaining Sydney as its flagship port, with over 20 itineraries departing from there. Other ports of call included Honolulu, the Bay of Islands, Ho Chi Minh City, and Osaka. The Golden Princess was based in Melbourne for several weeks that summer, offering residents the opportunity to visit destinations such as Mystery Island, Auckland, Wineglass Bay, and Singapore. Princess Cruises also had ships based in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Auckland, New Zealand.
Princess Cruises is a leader in cruises between Australia and New Zealand.
Princess Cruises also offers specific itineraries for Australians with its two resident ships. For example, the Sea Princess offered a 106-night World Cruise departing from Sydney on June 5, 2018, visiting 40 ports in 27 countries. 2019 marked the tenth anniversary of the first World Cruise from Australia. In that decade, more than 30,000 Australian passengers have enjoyed this grand voyage.
Princess carries two out of every three Australians who choose New Zealand as their destination. To enhance the immersive experience, Princess offers New Zealand wines and cuisine on board. Optional excursions emphasize Maori tradition and culture.
CLIA Australia President Steve Odell stated in May that there is no market for more Australian-based vessels.
This coming winter 2018-19, Princess Cruises will deploy four ships (Majestic, Sun, Sea, and Golden Princess) in Australia and New Zealand, including the Majestic Princess, which will sail from Sydney and Auckland to destinations in Tasmania, Fiji, and other Pacific islands between September 2018 and March 2019. This ship was originally intended to be based year-round in Shanghai, but the weakness of the Chinese market convinced Princess executives that it was much more profitable to operate it during the Australian peak season. Princess will offer 95 cruises with 50 itineraries to more than 70 ports in 18 countries. These voyages include departures from four days, complete circumnavigations of Australia lasting almost a month, or a 25-day trip to Hawaii, Tahiti and the South Pacific in April 2019. In addition, as in Alaska, to complete the cruise experience, Princess Cruises has for years offered two pre- or post-cruise packages, with visits to the Great Barrier Reef, Ayers Rock, etc.
On January 8th, a significant milestone was reached: Princess Cruises launched its first cruise from Adelaide, South Australia, aboard the Golden Princess, open to international passengers. The 17-night voyage included stops in Melbourne, Dunedin, Akaroa, Wellington, Gisborne, Tauranga, and Auckland, and sailed through Fiordland National Park. This event followed a nearly 20% increase in the number of cruise passengers from South Australia.
In March 2018, Princess announced its largest fleet deployment to Australia, with five ships offering cruises from six Australian ports in the 2019-2020 season. Among the highlights was the fact that three ships, including the Majestic Princess, Sun Princess, and Golden Princess, would offer voyages from Adelaide, including a 55-day Indian Ocean and South Africa cruise on the Sun Princess. That season, Princess offered 125 sailings with more than 60 different itineraries to over 100 destinations in 30 countries. The addition of the Ruby Princess and the second year of the Majestic Princess further solidified Princess' commitment to this market, offering more than 900 cruise days on itineraries from Sydney, Perth (Fremantle), Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Auckland. More than half (444 cruise days) will be from Sydney, where the Majestic and Ruby Princess will offer around 100,000 places, which is a 25% increase over the 2018-2019 season.
Carnival Corp.
's strategy in Australia to become the dominant cruise line in that market has several facets. The first is its multi-brand presence in the market, through well-established subsidiaries such as P&O Australia, Princess Cruises, Holland America, and others. The second is its tremendous capacity to strengthen its offerings and adapt them to demand, thanks to the transfer of ships between its various brands. The third is the year-round presence of the Carnival Corp. fleet, unlike its rivals, which only send ships during the Australian summer. And the last, shared with its rivals, is the complementary nature of the seasons in different destinations: the peak seasons in China, Alaska, and Japan do not coincide with those in Australia, which allows a single ship to sail year-round with tickets sold during peak season.
Carnival Corp is going to promote a new cruise terminal in Brisbane.
Carnival Cruise Lines
is the cruise brand with the world's largest fleet. Its ships are primarily intended for the North American market. However, in January 2011, Ann Sherry, CEO of Carnival Australia, announced that starting in October 2012, the Carnival Spirit would be based in Australia year-round. The Carnival Legend joined it in the fall of 2014, though only during the winter months, as it is based in Alaska during the summer.
Brisbane Port Authority and Carnival have agreed to build a joint cruise terminal project valued at 158 million Australian dollars.
In the 2019-2020 season, Carnival Cruise Line planned to expand from one year-round resident ship, the Carnival Spirit, to two with the arrival of the Carnival Splendor. However, this expansion was not only thwarted by the cancellation of the Splendor's arrival, but the Carnival Legend will also not return for the 2019-2020 season and will be reassigned to the Caribbean, based in Tampa. This coming season, the Carnival Legend will offer 16 cruises from Melbourne, in addition to others from Sydney, while the Carnival Spirit will remain based year-round in Sydney. In October 2017, Carnival Cruise Lines celebrated its fifth anniversary in Australia: since its first cruise in 2012, more than 800,000 Australians had sailed on its two ships.
Another Carnival Corp. ship with a strong presence in Australia is Holland America Line. After many years of calling at Australia on its World and Pacific Rim cruises, it sent the Statendam to Sydney for the entire 2005-2006 season. Since then, there has always been a Holland America Line ship in Australia every Australian summer, each time larger. The Statendam returned for three years, followed by the Volendam in 2008-2009.
In 2011, Holland America Line and Seabourn established their own sales office. That same year, the Oosterdam made its maiden voyage to Australia, beginning the first of three seasons in that destination. It was replaced by the Noordam, which continues to serve both Alaska and Australia to this day.
Sydney, the Miami of Australia.
Sydney, Australia's largest and oldest city, is a popular cruise destination for both local and international cruisers. It is the capital of New South Wales and holds an enviable position as one of the most vibrant and captivating cities in the world. Sydney boasts a wealth of natural wonders, pristine beaches, cultural institutions, multicultural cuisine, and much more. Its main landmarks are the iconic Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, both integrated into the harbor and perfectly visible to cruise passengers. Sydney is the only city in Australia with two dedicated cruise terminals: the Overseas Cruise Terminal at Circular Quay and the nearby White Bay Cruise Terminal, handling approximately 260 cruise ship calls annually.
Australia's season is compatible with other Pacific destinations, such as Alaska or China.
However, the growth of the cruise industry in the Australian city has been so significant that these infrastructures have become obsolete, leading to a shortage of berths during the Australian summer. Carnival Australia, the dominant operator in the country, has proposed expanding the use of Garden Island for cruise ships. This island, currently a naval base, means that cruise space is and will remain limited, and it will continue to offer berth space for only three cruise ships per year, subject to availability.
Another solution is a double-berth system at the Overseas Cruise Terminal. With this system, two ships could dock there daily: one arriving early and departing at midday, and a second arriving around lunchtime. This option places significant pressure on the ship's crew and terminal employees in homeport operations to achieve very fast embarkation times.
terminal
, and the construction of such an infrastructure is expected to boost tourism and provide real benefits to the Queensland community and economy. To promote cruise tourism, the Brisbane Port Authority and Carnival Cruise Line have agreed to a joint cruise terminal project valued at AU$158 million. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission gave its approval this spring.
Under the agreement, Carnival will pay a fixed annual fee to the port for 15 years in exchange for preferential berthing rights. However, this preferential status will only be granted for 100 days a year, up to a maximum of four days per week. There are two additional conditions: Carnival retains its option of four days per week, but cannot reserve more than two of the three weekend days (Friday to Sunday) in any given week, which are the most profitable days. If the terminal is expanded in the future with a second pier, Carnival will not be entitled to any preferential rights at that location.
Around 75,000 residents of South Australia took a cruise in 2017, representing 4.4% of the region's population. This translates to a higher cruise penetration rate in that market than in the United States or Europe. Their port of embarkation is Adelaide, which saw 65 cruise ship calls during the 2017-18 season, 16 more than the previous year. An additional 86 calls are expected for the upcoming season from ships such as the Ovation of the Seas and the Golden Princess.
believes
there is still room for growth and predicts a scenario of two million passengers in 2020, which would imply an average annual growth rate of 11.8% between 2016 and 2020.
The first cruises in Australia
The growth of cruises in Australia is closely linked to the commitment to that source market of two shipowners: P&O and SITMAR.
The first cruise from Australia set sail in December 1932.
P&O offered the first cruise from Australia on December 23, 1932, aboard the Strathaird, a round trip from Sydney to Norfolk Island. After World War II, they continued this service with ships operating on the regular route between the UK and Australia. One of these, the Oriana, offered cruises from Sydney between 1973 and 1986, with seasons becoming increasingly longer as passenger traffic declined. It departed Sydney on its final cruise on May 28, 1986.
The baton was passed to SITMAR, an Italian shipowner specializing in migrant transport between Europe and Australia, which began offering cruises from Sydney in 1977 with the Fairstar. This ship was dubbed Australia's "Fun Ship," as it offered a lighthearted experience that was very popular with Australians. It reigned supreme in Australian cruises for twenty years, until it was sold for scrap in 1997. The following year, P&O acquired SITMAR and replaced it with another ship from that company, the Fair Princess, which sailed until 2001.
Meanwhile, Princess, another P&O company, offered its first season in Australia in 1975-1976 with the legendary Pacific Princess, "The Love Boat," and has repeated the venture to this day.
P&O (Australia) Cruises
was created in 2000 as a brand within P&O Princess Cruises, which remained after the merger with Carnival in 2003. The first ship of this brand, exclusively for the Australian market, was the Pacific Sky in 2001, which later sailed for Pullmantur as the Sky Wonder. The Pacific Sun was added in 2004, followed a year later by the Pacific Star. That year, the Pacific Sky offered the first cruise season based in Brisbane.
P&O Australia has a fleet of five vessels resident year-round in Australia.
These were all transitional ships that were soon sold as larger vessels began to be added to the fleet. On the 75th anniversary of the cruise line, in October 2007, the oldest ship in the Princess Cruises fleet, the Regal Princess, was transferred to P&O Australia and renamed Pacific Dawn. Its sister ships, Pacific Jewel in 2009 and Pacific Pearl in 2010, followed, forming the core of the fleet for the past decade. The opening of new homeports also began: in 2009, the Pacific Dawn moved its homeport from Sydney to Brisbane. In 2012, the Pacific Sun began sailing from Fremantle before its sale.
In May 2014, Carnival Corporation announced that the Statendam and Ryndam, two of Holland America Line's oldest ships, would be transferred to P&O Cruises Australia in 2015, after being renamed Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria, respectively. In October 2015, it was announced that the Dawn Princess would move from the Princess Cruises fleet to P&O Australia in 2017, under the name Pacific Explorer. But there have also been setbacks: in December 2015, a sister ship of the Carnival Vista was ordered from Fincantieri for P&O Australia, with delivery scheduled for 2019. However, that ship will be delivered to Carnival Cruise Lines the following year, and instead, Carnival Australia was initially slated to receive the Carnival Splendor; and finally, in September 2017, Carnival announced that the Golden Princess would ultimately be the ship transferred to P&O Australia in 2020.
The Pacific Pearl transported more than half a million passengers for P&O in seven years.
In 2016, P&O became the first operator to base a cruise ship in Cairns, from where the Pacific Eden offered nine sailings. That year, P&O called at 16 new destinations in Australia and the South Pacific.
Between 2017 and 2019, two ships will leave the fleet: Pacific Pearl and Pacific Aria, both sold to Cruise & Maritime Voyages.
Adelaide is a coastal city located on the southern Indian Ocean. It is the capital and most populous city of South Australia, and the fifth largest city in Australia, with a population of 1.3 million. It received 65 cruise ship calls during the 2017-18 season, and 86 are expected for the upcoming season.
The following figures attest to this shipowner's dominance in the Australian market: in 2016, 77% of Australians who took a cruise from a port on that continent did so on a ship operated by one of Carnival Australia's brands, while 84% of Australians who opted for a domestic cruise did so on ships from P&O, Princess and Carnival Cruise Line.
Australia's Ports:
It is important to note that Australia's port infrastructure is not growing in line with the number of cruise ships visiting the country, leading to congestion in ports such as Sydney. However, several projects have been unveiled to develop docks and terminals in ports such as Brisbane, Cairns, Gladstone, Newcastle, and Eden. This will boost the economic development of these destinations. Recognizing the importance of infrastructure development, Grant Gilfillan, the CEO of the Ports Authority of New South Wales, was appointed Chairman of the Australian Cruise Association in September 2017.
Sydney has serious problems with cruise ship congestion during peak season.
Alongside work on new infrastructure, destinations have strengthened their increasingly important role in crafting itineraries, developing new experiences for visitors to enjoy. These range from cruises across Sydney Harbour Bridge to gastronomic and wine tours, and nature and wildlife experiences. Cruises are also being organized in conjunction with sporting events such as the Australian Open tennis tournament or the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race.
Passengers from Australia show more interest in visiting destinations such as Kimberley, the Great Barrier Reef, or New Guinea, Papua, or Borneo.
