Beauty of Tassie untapped
THE Tasmanian Government is investigating the prospect of building a new port at Beauty Point on the Tamar River as one of many potential growth opportunities for the state’s cruise sector.
The suggestion for a fourth cruise ship port is part of the Government’s Tasmanian Cruise Market Update and Regional Ports Review 2017-18, which outlines growth opportunities and the impact of the cruise industry in Tasmania.
“Beauty Point has been identified as one place where we can invest more and bring more visitors in,” said Tasmania Premier Will Hodgman.
Expedition cruising was also identified in the report as “the best fit” for Tasmania in terms of shore excursions and branding, with the appetite for growth at the state’s ports strongest in the small luxury segment of ships up to 1,000 passengers.
The review suggests the biggest opportunities for growth are: developing partial turnarounds of cruise ships at Hobart so that visitors could spend time in Tasmania before or after their cruise, increasing time spent in port to boost pax spend, longer shore tours to attract more boutique int’l vessels, and increasing the number of regional ports included on itineraries to drive visitor dispersal.
Large cruise ship visits to Wineglass Bay were labelled “unsuitable” due to the impact on Freycinet National Park, with the report recommending a restriction on ships carrying more than 100 pax in the future.