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Posted by David Sexton
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16 December, 2025
A CAKE cutting ceremony on Sunday marked the 500th cruise ship to visit the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal (BICT).
The BICT opened back in June 2022 and the milestone vessel was the home-ported Carnival Luminosa.
On hand for the ceremony were Port of Brisbane chief executive Neil Stephens and Carnival Luminosa captain Adriano Binacchi.
Mr Stephens said it had been an “action-packed three years”.
“Since opening, we’ve hosted some of the largest ships to visit Australia, had over 2.5 million passenger movements through the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal, and even weathered a cyclone earlier this year,” Mr Stephens said.
“Queensland is Australia’s second-largest cruise market, and 500 calls in just over three years shows how central the BICT is to the state’s cruise tourism industry.”
Mr Stephens said every call into the BICT contributed more than $1 million in economic value to Queensland. Across a 10-year period from 2024, this was predicted to reach in the order of $1.5 billion.
“The benefits go beyond Brisbane – many cruise ships also visit other destinations along the Queensland coast, creating economic and tourism opportunities,” the chief executive said.
Carnival Corporation country manager Peter Little said Carnival had played a major role in the growth of cruise tourism in Queensland and was proud “of our long-term commitment to Australia’s only purpose-built cruise facility and partnership with the Port of Brisbane”.
The 2025/26 season is expected to see more than 140 cruise calls from 11 different cruise lines, including nine maiden callers.
