THE realities of Sydney’s infrastructure constraints is setting in, with Adam Armstrong, md Australia and New Zealand, Royal Caribbean Cruises emphatic CLIA Australasia’s target of 2m cruise passengers by 2020 would not be achieved
Speaking at CLIA Australasia’s Cruise360 Conference on Fri, Armstrong said “e are not going to get to 2m guests by 2020 because those 700,000 guests are only going to come from additional ships coming to Australia and we’ve got nowhere to put them”.
Earlier this year Royal Caribbean International became the first big operator to withdraw capacity from the Australian market due to a lack of berths (CW 27 Apr).
“We’ve been talking about it for ten years that at some point, someone’s going to turn away and put a ship somewhere else so that’s the risk,” Armstrong added.
Armstrong said he is “intriuged” by the cruise reference group, but emphasised the industry needs an answer.
“We want a solution that’s fit for purpose, that’s for the future, that’s not a compromise that’s going to be able to accommodate big ships every day of the week, potentially two ships, that’s going to secure the future of the industry,” he said.
Weighing in on the topic, Sture Myrmell, president P&O Cruises Australia said it’s time the cruise industry gets some support from the Government, highlighting the NSW Premier’s recent commitment of more than $1.6b into sport.
“The reason for committing the $1.6b was given as jobs and tourism,” he explained.
“Our industry is any bit, if not more about jobs and tourism so I think it’s time the cruise industry now gets some love and support as well.”
See CLIA’s response on page 3.
