Issues & Trends – April 2011
Cruise lobby to tackle issues ‘with single voice’
CRUISE industry leaders are talking about the formation of a body to lobby governments over issues such as the pressing need for infrastructure investment to meet the needs of a rapidly growing industry.
International Cruise Council Australasia (ICCA) chairman Gavin Young revealed the moves earlier this month at the launch of the latest ICCA statistics which detailed another massive increase of 27 per cent in Australian cruise passenger numbers. (Story, page 21)
Young was responding to press questions about the need for the industry to present a united voice to the bureaucratic and political decision-makers who will determine the industry’s fortunes – particularly in Sydney.
Facilities in Australia’s gateway port are currently stretched to the limit handling the relentless build-up in traffic and the requirement for more infrastructure is now urgent. Carnival Australia chief executive Ann Sherry has been a high-profile advocate, calling for action particularly in Sydney.
However, while Carnival is by far the largest passenger cruise operator in Australian waters, there is a risk of the industry’s message being fragmented if lobbying efforts have to rely solely on individual voices rather than a united industry body.
Asked if ICCA could take on this role, Young pointed out that the council was formed with the aim of providing training to travel agents. “Our predominant obligation is to do that to the maximum,” he said.
But he added that “as a group we are talking about a consolidated voice for those who are seeking it”.
“It is a challenge how to do that,” he said, noting, for example, that many members of ICCA do not cruise in Australia.
Nevertheless, he said, it is recognised that the industry needs a body to represent the views of “all the stakeholders seeking a single voice”.
At the same time as ICCA was releasing cruise statistics to industry members at a conference aboard Rhapsody of the Seas docked at Circular Quay, the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) was under way across town at the Darling Harbour convention centre.
At an ATE press conference fronted by Tourism Australia’s chairman Geoff Dixon and managing director Andrew McEvoy, McEvoy highlighted the supply side focus of the Jackson Report and the need for investment in 50,000 additional hotel rooms and a 40-50 per cent increase in airline capacity by 2020.
Asked if Tourism Australia would get involved in the need for expanded cruise infrastructure, McEvoy said the body works closely with the industry on marketing and is “a strong member” of Cruising Down Under but port facilities are the responsibility of individual state governments.
“We won’t buy into that,” said Dixon.