NZ cruise industry records $120 million loss – is the problem across the ditch?

• New Zealand’s cruise tourism economic impact assessment has been released.
• While cruise continues to be an enormous economic contributor, it has declined about 9.8% from last year.
• This means the industry generated about $120 million less in economic activity over the 2024/25 season when compared to the 2023/24 season.

The New Zealand Cruise Association has released its annual figures on cruise’s economic impact, and it confirms what many saw coming. While cruise continues to be a key contributor to the economy, it’s overall impact on the economy for the 2024/25 cruise season dropped 9.8% compared to the 2023/24 season.

This drop was not unexpected, but it does show a concerning pattern, which corroborates the $1 billion drop in cruise expenditure that happened in Australia over the same period. These numbers confirm that cruising in the region is suffering, and these numbers will fall even further if quick actions aren’t taken, especially in Australia.

Over the season cruise contributed NZ$1.23 billion (approx AUD$1.07 billion) to the New Zealand economy. For the season before, New Zealand recorded the cruise industry’s impact as NZ$1.37 billion (approx AUD$1.19 billion).

Some other figures further demonstrate the yearly impact on the economy, but unfortunately also the year-on-year downturn New Zealand has experienced.

• The industry supported 8253 jobs (down 15.3%)
• The country saw a total of 882 ship visit days (down 13.9%) and 1.3 million passenger visit downs (down 19%)
• The average cruise passengers spends $313 per day on shore.
• Direct cruise line expenditure totalled $260 million (down 17.9%)

These figures are particularly concerning for New Zealand because a larger projected drop in cruise visitors is coming for the season ahead. New Zealand is expected to see an 18% drop in total passenger days from the 2024/25 season to the 2025/26 season, which will likely mean further losses in revenue generated by the cruise industry.

However, the good news for New Zealand is that, unlike Australia, it saw this drop coming and has been taking it seriously.

The cruise association has joined forces with the government to create a national cruise strategy which has already produced instant results, including Carnival Cruises cancelling a series of Sydney cruises and moving them to New Zealand.

New Zealand Cruise Association President Jacqui Lloyd previously told Cruise Passenger: “Before we had a unified strategy, cruise often came across as fragmented and ad hoc which made it harder for government to take us seriously. Cruise Aotearoa New Zealand 2040 has changed that completely.

“It aligns with national and regional destination management strategies, the New Zealand Tourism Strategy, and the Government’s Tourism Industry Transformation Plan, giving cruise a credible, integrated framework within the wider tourism system.

““Now, government listens and engages with us because they can see that the cruise industry has a clear long-term plan that delivers value for the economy, environment, and communities.“

The reality is that however well New Zealand plans and communicates with the cruise industry, for it to see growth and success in its cruise industry, it needs Australia to hold up its end as well. Most cruise ships that visit New Zealand come from Australia, and New Zealand isn’t a big enough market on its own to attract new cruise ships to the region.

It’s time for Australia to take a leaf out of New Zealand’s book and take these financial losses seriously, call for a cruise summit and put a plan in place to reverse the losses and strengthen the future of the industry.