Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
City just the spot to set off cruising
Liner embarks from new terminal 11
FOR the first time, a world cruise has departed from Cape Town’s new cruise ship terminal on a journey that will take in 25 countries before culminating in Fort Lauderdale in Florida, US.
A total of 848 passengers flew into the city from around the world, embarking on the six- star Crystal Symphony before leaving Cape Town’s port on Monday evening on the first leg of its 114-day world cruise.
The Crystal Symphony will be captained by Nenad Wilheim.
“Cape Town is poised to become a cruise tourism hot spot in South Africa and the construction of dedicated cruise liner infrastructure will have vast benefits on regional job creation and economic development,” said DA parliamentary spokesperson on tourism James Vos, who boarded the luxury ship as a guest of Cruises International.
Vos enjoyed a tour of its facilities and received a plaque to place in Parliament, commemorating the first world cruise to start its global journey from Cape Town.
Transnet National Ports Authority announced last year that the V&A Waterfront had been chosen as the preferred bidder to bring a luxury cruise terminal to South Africa’s oldest working harbour.
“The investment of phase one and phase two totals R50 million,” Vos told the assembled group of inter- national cruise ship representatives, media and travel bloggers.
“The two floors immediately above the terminal portion will be developed to accommodate a restaurant and events space. Further developments include reception and waiting areas, baggage handling services, immigration and customs facilities, as well as infrastructure,” he said.
The V& A Waterfront intended operating the terminal building as a multi-use facility, he added, which would bring year-round activity.
“Without a doubt the cruise line industry offers enormous potential for tourism growth and, therefore, the extension of the V&A Waterfront experience to the cruise ter- minal will hold the key to prosperity.”
Vos stressed that the cruise industry had the potential to provide economic benefits not only to the port city, but the whole country. Spending by cruise passengers and crews, as well as the buying of goods and services for the ship, were examples of how the economy could be boosted.
He pointed out that the Crystal Symphony had three South Africans working on board.
“All measures to increase tourism at both regional and national level must be seriously considered,” he said.
“For this reason, I will continue to push for the development of tourism infrastructure that drives demand and makes business sense.”
Cape Town Tourism head Enver Duminy said that the projected value of the cruise tourism industry between now and 2027 was estimated to be in the region of R220 billion.
A 2011 City of Cape Town report found that cruise ships carrying around 2 000 passengers result in spending to the value of R2.2m per day.
Vos also said Cape Town International Airport was being upgraded, notably with a R3.18bn new runway.
The upgrade, which has received environmental authorisation, will include new terminal buildings, boarding gates, aircraft parking stands, taxiways and service roads. “Runway 18-36 will be 3 500m in length and will be built to international specifications, allowing larger aircraft like A380s and other Code F aircraft to land,” Vos said.
Also in progress is the expansion of the Cape Town International Convention Centre. “This facility injected more than R32.5bn into the national gross domestic product and R28.8bn into the Western Cape gross geographic product in the past financial year alone,” said Vos.
“The expansion is anticipated to increase these figures due to the rising demand in conferencing and expos.”
The Crystal Symphony will have stop-overs in Mossel Bay, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Richards Bay, Maputo, Taolanaro in Madagascar, Reunion and Port Louis in Mauritius on the first leg of its world cruise.