New cruises make up 60% of southern WA visits

THE CRUISE season has come to a close in southern Western Australia with a host of new cruises.

The departure of the 184m Insignia from the Port of Albany last Wednesday marked the end of the seven-month season.

It saw 22,000 tourists visit the state’s southern regions with close to 20,000 people visiting the Great Southern across 18 vessel visits, 1,300 people to the Goldfields-Esperance region across three visits and one visit to the South West with 800 people.

Southern Ports CEO Keith Wilks said the season had been another tremendous chance to expose new visitors to southern WA destinations.

“Sixty per cent of our cruise ship visits this season were the first time those vessels had come into our ports, which shows just how popular our regions are becoming,” Mr Wilks said.

“Every cruise visit is another chance to showcase our spectacular regions to new groups of visitors and we’re proud of the role we play in that.

“Cruise visits result in money being spent in local economies and many passengers come back for longer visits after getting a first taste of the region.

“There is so much for tourists to discover and see throughout the Great Southern, Goldfields-Esperance and South West regions that it is impossible to do it all during just one visit.”

In the Great Southern, there was a significant number of maiden calls to Albany which included almost 3,000 passengers aboard the Crown Princess in November, more than 2,000 aboard the MSC Magnifica in March and 1,800 aboard the Westerdam in December.

The captain of each cruise vessel making its maiden call to the Port of Albany was presented with a plaque made by the Albany Men’s Shed with timber from the Port’s former deep-water jetty.

“Having so many new vessels include Albany on their itineraries is a reflection on the fact it is one of WA’s premier cruise destinations and the industry is continuing to bounce back strongly,” Mr Wilks said.

“Because cruise visits often lead to visitors returning at a later date it’s difficult to measure their full impact on our regional economies, but it’s certainly overwhelmingly positive.”

Data from the Australian Cruise Association indicated the 2023-24 cruise season had a $385m economic impact throughout WA on the back of moderate growth.