While there have been concerns about major lines deploying their ships away from Australia, one major luxury ship operator is considering the opposite.
Silversea, which has a 12 ships divided into expedition and classic classes, has its sights on turning Australia into a major destination for its guests, and is actively exploring excursions and experiences in Western Australia and South Australia, as well as the eastern coast line.
In a great piece of timing, South Australia this week announced it will form the ‘South Australian Cruise Attraction Working Group’.
Conrad Combrink, Silversea’s Head of Expeditions, has nominated Australia as a major area of interest. Adelaide in particular, is being scoped thanks to its increasing airline partnerships.
“We need to work with the smaller communities where I see a real opportunity with South Australia is more in the expedition sector than the Classic. Places like Kangaroo Island. Adelaide has got a very important role to play and they can become easily part of an itinerary that we already are doing in Melbourne to Auckland or Auckland to Melbourne.
“We do call on these destinations already. But I think South Australia has just got so much more opportunity.”
He said there was a possibility of a ship being positioned on the south coast.
But there were other possibilities too.
“Cities such as Sydney, such as Adelaide, such as Brisbane offer so much to the classic more contemporary guests.
“And then Australia also has expedition. At the moment Western Australia and Northern Territories benefit the most from expedition.
“But I do think there is more. On the East Coast, all the way from Cairns down to Melbourne. There’s huge opportunities for expedition, so from a destination perspective, it’s very unique.”
Combrink said he admired local line Coral Expeditions’ programs because they offer an immersive experience along the coast from Adelaide to Perth.
“It’s just so remarkable. The problem is, of course, the fact that for us we’re an international line. The local regulations are still a barrier for entry for many of the international players.
“I definitely don’t want to make a comment on that in terms of whether I think it’s wrong or right for the country. We don’t dictate anything to countries at all.
“But we have seen in other countries where they do encourage international ships the benefit to the communities.
“I think I think Australia’s got a bit of work to do. But the area in terms of potential is enormous.
“If you think about Silversea vision, that that is where our focus is 100% and Silversea vision states quite simply: nothing stands between you and the authentic beauty of the world.”
Combrink described the Silversea method of assessing destinations as rigorous.
“Ultimately it is about that immersive experience.It’s about that that once in a lifetime experience. It’s almost like that Money can’t buy experience so that we would try to deliver it to our guests.”
Food was a good example, he said. The S.A.L.T experience means as the ship moves through the regions, the cuisine changes.
“I was on one of our ships last year and we were going from Fort Lauderdale to Mexico, and we had a day at sea, and that day at sea was along the Cuban coast and in the S.A.L.T. kitchen that night was Cuban cuisine. So it really is amazing.”
He continued: “Obviously, you’ve got a team that’s very into the Silversea brand because there’d be lots and lots of competitors looking for experiences like that. So I think we’re quite unique.
“We’ve got a research and development team, and their job is to research destinations so that we know everything before we even pull the trigger on a destination to decide that we want to do it.
“We have a team looking at everything from weather, from political landscape, regulatory. And that’s their job.”
“From there, we will then bring in the destination teams, whether it’s the classic team, whether it’s the expedition product team and then we’ll start curating. We’ll start brainstorming. It’s a creative process. It’s a wonderful process, and from there we’ll start scouting.
“We will never do a destination if we don’t know it intimately.”
He said Silversea was working with tourism boards like South Australian Tourism,
Tourism Victoria, Destination New South Wales and Tourism Australia.
“Kudos to them, actually all the regional tourism boards and the national boards here in Australia, they’re among the best in the world.”
Combrink says among his favourite destinations are Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
“People are still excited. People still see the real benefit because they truly benefit from tourism.”
He described opening up Bangladesh.
“When we went to Bangladesh, we were the first and only cruise company ever to do it. And the way we set it about it, you know, through multiple scouting groups, working with vendors, and we actually went out and we selected the villages and with my content director we identified shops and we identified home industries, you know, textile Bangladesh. And we guaranteed them that we will buy if they produce, we’ll buy right.
“I knew that if the guests weren’t going to buy, we were just going to pay for it. That was our promise to the community.
“But it’s also a bit insulting to the community if no one buys their product. So to make, to make sure that people actually do buy, the night before we got to the specific village, I told the guests ‘Listen: this is the situation. This is what I promised the community.And we have purchased local currency for all of you this evening.
“You’ll receive $100 worth per person local currency in your suite.It’s already debited to your account. We can’t take that money back. You have to spend it tomorrow. And this is where you should spend it.
“Nobody had a problem with that. People loved it. They appreciated the effort and they appreciated the fact that they knew that they were making a difference. I think that’s really important.”
Silversea is completing its final voyage in the Kimberley. “ It’s probably our most successful season ever in the Kimberley. Our guest scores are through the roof.”
Could Silversea have a year round ship in Australia?
“I think with Expedition you could. But again, there’s the regulatory processes, the authorisation for non Australian flagged vessels to be able to do that so that is the barrier.
Silversea has two ships that come from November through to March. But we’re up against some stiff competition.
Says Combrink: “Your summer season, of course, is also the time of South Africa summer season. It’s the Caribbean season. It’s the South America season.
“So a lot of competition and also, because we’re a global brand, we would like to make sure that our voyages are around the world so that our guests can choose.”
Australia is our second largest source market. When we look at the Kimberley, about 80% of our guests on our Kimberley Voyagers are Australian.
“Then, of course, outside of the Kimberley, Antarctica remains a top destination for the expedition Traveller out of Australia. And, remarkably, the British Isles.”
