Cruise ships carry future migrants
OPINION: Christchurch needs to attract more smart, skilled people to ensure our future prosperity and that’s not just a matter of opinion, it’s a fact.
It was confirmed again in a recent KPMG report on 100 major cities, which concluded that the biggest ingredient in a city’s success was attracting the right people.
It’s a critical issue for Christchurch and the region because over the next 15 years we’re expecting to lose 72,500 workers in Canterbury as baby boomers move into retirement.
We’re going to need a lot of smart, skilled people to fill the gaps they’ll leave if we want to hold our own, let alone prosper.
There is clear evidence that migrants tend to move to countries they are familiar with, and countries in which they have felt welcomed and valued.
The impact from cruise ships is significant – 47 per cent of cruise passengers return to a cruise destination they enjoyed for a longer holiday.
To attract more migrants, we therefore need to focus on attracting tourists.
The more visitors we can introduce to our city and to our region, the greater our chances of attracting the migrants we need to succeed.
It’s critical, therefore, that we invest in tourism and make smart, well-informed, future-focused decisions. Investing in a new cruise terminal at Lyttelton is a particularly smart decision for the region’s future.
It’s all about the experience they have when they’re here.
The absence of a cruise berth at Lyttelton since the earthquakes has seen ships visiting Akaroa and the 77 ships that arrived over the past season placed a huge strain on the small town.
The ability to ease extreme pressures on Akaroa’s facilities and services should result in better community and social outcomes for the town, so it’s a win-win result for both Akaroa and Lyttelton, as well as the wider region.
Lincoln University research estimates that cruise passengers arriving at Lyttelton are likely to spend $13 per person per day more than if they berthed at Akaroa.
While $13 may not sound like much, it turns into a very large sum when multiplied by the number of cruise visitors arriving on ships capable of carrying more than 6500 passengers.
The new Lyttelton berth will enable the very largest of today’s cruise ships to dock, while smaller ones will still be able to visit Akaroa.
It will provide a much needed stimulus to help drive the redevelopment of the Lyttelton commercial centre, providing a boost to accelerate the redevelopment of the retail and hospitality centre.
Both Lyttelton and Akaroa will directly benefit.
Without the decision to invest $56 million in the Lyttelton cruise berth, there would have been a real risk that cruise companies would have ended up bypassing our region in favour of other ports.
That would have been a major blow to our goal of increasing visitor numbers.
The old stereotype of cruise ship passengers being wealthy retirees is no longer true.
Of course there will always be retired folk on board, but cruise passengers these days are just as likely to be families and skilled professionals – the very people who could potentially contribute to our economy and our communities.
Canterbury is renowned for its warm and welcoming people.
That will be a great asset when the big cruise ships start arriving in Lyttelton again.
The better the experience we give our visitors, the more likely we are to attract them back to help us drive our future prosperity.
The more visitors we can introduce to our city and to our region, the greater our chances of attracting the migrants we need to succeed.