VICTORIA’S BIGGEST CRUISE SHIP SEASON EVER

A record 37 cruise ships will visit Victoria during the 2005/06 season, bringing with them 76,000 visitors to the State.

The Transport Minister, Peter Batchelor, said Victoria has made cruise shipping history, with one of P&O’s most popular cruise ships - Pacific Sky making Melbourne its home port from next month for a series of five visits.

On top of visits by the world renowned QEII, Melbourne will also host the Diamond Princess, which has capacity for 2,600 passengers.  The Diamond Princess is scheduled to visit Melbourne eight times between January and April 2006.

Regional Victoria will also share in the cruise ship visits with the clipper Odyssey set to visit Refuge Cove in Wilsons Promontory, and the Artemis to visit Phillip Island.

“The Bracks Government has been working hard to increase Victoria’s cruise shipping capacity and infrastructure improvements to Station Pier in recent years are clearly paying off,” Mr Batchelor said.

“We are committed to growing cruise-shipping through world-class infrastructure and improved security.”
 
The Pacific Sky basing itself here was a clear example of the strategy’s success.

The Minister for Tourism, John Pandazopoulos said that the cruise ship industry was the fastest growing segment of the global leisure market.

“The cruise shipping industry is a very important part of the Victorian tourism industry.  Each ship to visit Melbourne makes an estimated $1 million contribution to the economy,” he said.

“These upgrades, combined with Victoria’s growing tourism appeal among domestic and international visitors, make Melbourne an ideal choice as the home port for this fantastic cruise ship.

“Melbourne is a natural choice when you consider our excellent 24-hour airport, which can easily cater for arriving and departing passengers, our world-class hotels and our extensive range of touring options for cruise ship passengers.”

Around $20 million in infrastructure upgrades have been made at Station Pier since 1999 as part of the Bracks Government’s commitment to developing the multi-million dollar cruise shipping segment.