The 26th Australian Cruise Association conference segment took place today at Adelaide’s SkyCity presenting a number of panel discussions and keynote talks highlighting the good, the bad and the ugly the current state of the Australian cruise industry.

The morning kicked off with a bang as South Australian minister for tourism and multicultural affairs, Zoe Bettison announced a new ‘South Australian Cruise Attraction’ working group to promote cruising in South Australia. 

2025 conference location 

In 2025, the Australian Cruise Association will head to Fremantle, Perth for its 27th conference from 3-5 September.

“We are looking forward to heading back to W.A. in 2025 which will mark 20 years since the Conference was last held in Fremantle with 49 delegates in attendance – next year we expect around three times that many. Recent conferences in WA were also held in Perth in 2014 and Broome in 2018,” ACA CEO Jill Abel said. 

 “The committee’s decision to select Fremantle reflects the important commitment by the State Government and the various stakeholders throughout the state to discuss the next phase of growth for Western Australia.” 

Deputy Premier and Minister for Tourism, Western Australia, Rita Saffioti said: “The cruise tourism industry generates hundreds of millions of dollars for Western Australia each year and creates hundreds of local jobs.   

“Hosting this prestigious conference is another fantastic opportunity to showcase our State and cruise industry to key leaders from across the country and keep building on what we’re achieving.  

“We really look forward to welcoming delegates to Fremantle next year and discussing current and future opportunities within the sector, while of course showcasing our world-class cruise and broader tourism offerings.”   

Highlights of the day

The state of the industry 

Gavin Smith (Royal Caribbean), Teresa Lloyd (Carnival Australia), Ben Angell (NCL), Jill Abel (ACA) discuss the current issues and opportunities in the industry right now.

Post COVID, cruise lines are still trying to ‘figure out’ what is ‘best for them’ in the face of geopolitical issues around the world as well as factors like over-tourism and sustainability.

Carnival Cruise’s Teresa Lloyd: ‘If sustainable fuel’s not available, we are not coming’

One of the notable moments from the panel was discussion around Virgin Voyages which will not return to Australia this season.

As Jill Abel joked that her panelists may have been pleased with the news, the cruise representatives leaned towards the idea that a rising tide raises all ships.

While they may be competitors, all cruise companies are striving to promote a similar message… ‘The joy of cruising’.

A deep dive into the stats – how is Australian cruising performing: Adele Labine-Romain  

Deloitte’s Adele Labine-Romain crunched the numbers and zoomed in on the Australian tourism market, highlighting the way in which travel has returned in the post-COIVD era.

As a partner with Deloitte Australia’s national Travel, Hospitality and Leisure sector lead Adele has a rich knowledge of the global tourism landscape and has experience in policy and strategy development with both government and industry.

Interestingly, Romain revealed data showing Australian’s financial concerns versus the desire to spend on leisure travel.

For the last 18 months both sets have data have been consistent, but in the last two months things have changed.

“I’ve been waiting for this to happen,” Romain said. “In the last two months we’re just starting to come off the boil, we have dropped a couple of percentage points.”

The data is mirrored in the Australian cruise industry with data showing a two-to-three per cent drop off in our ‘likelihood to cruise’ since June 2023.

The reason, a growing concern as the pressures of the cost-of-living continues to impact the consumer.

Steering our destination to success 

From turning Kangaroo Island into a cruising dream, to making sure a ship is equipped to service passengers with a disability, Chad Berkshire (NCL), Jessica Ashe Holland (America/Seabourn), Tim Jones (Celebrity Cruises) and Nick Jones, (South Australian Tourism Commission) unpacked how to make your destination a cruising hit.

Key takeaways for this panel included Jessica Ashe highlighting that every cruise operator wants to say they have an ‘exclusive’ tour, so if you’re a tour operator, come up with unique ways to make each cruise line feel special.

Tim Jones discussed the importance of a tour guide, stating that to make the shore excursion experience even better,

“We’re not satisfied with being really good, we want to elevate it to the next level… and I think finding the right tour guide is integral to to that,” tim Jones said.

Fiji to focus on fly-cruise, door open for expedition cruising 

Tourism Fiji’s Leigh Howard unearthed a couple of key opportunities for cruise in Fiji.

Firstly fly-cruise and the ever-growing connectivity of Fiji Airways with new direct routes to Dallas and flights from Hong Kong, Japan and Adelaide.

The second opportunity comes in the way of expedition cruising, which, believe it or not, there is now no offering in Fiji.

If only we had a few million dollars lying around to start our own… 

But in all seriousness, it will only be a matter of time until we see a new operator set sail to home port in the jewel of the south pacific – depending on who you ask!