Jacqui Lloyd: Cruise Association .. on 28% port visits by cruise ships next season

New reports show cruise ships are giving New Zealand a miss.

Next season will see a 28 percent decrease in port visits nationwide.

Cruise Association CEO Jackie Lloyd says cruise ship companies have a negative perception of New Zealand.

“They think New Zealand’s unwelcoming, that we’re not wanting crews, and they’re reflecting that in their deployment decisions for the next couple of years,” she said.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It looks like we've got a problem with cruise ship sailings.
New numbers out today show that a lot of the
ships are choosing to give New Zealand a bit of
a miss. Overall, there's going to be twenty eight percent
few report visits nationwide in the upcoming year. Jackie Lloyd
is New Zealand Cruise Association CEO and is with us. Now,
Hey Jackie, Hi, how are you very well? Thank you?
What's the problem?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
A number of things really. This has been on the
cards for a number of years, which we've been making
quite a bit of a noise about. There's four main
reasons for the change. One of them is the changes
of regulations mid season, so cruise lines book and lock
in their deployment eighteen months to two years in advance.
They sell their passages to passengers so they can get

(00:42):
on board and travel in New Zealand. And over the
last few years has been regulation change and costs increases
in New Zealand that have been made within that booking window,
and in that case there is nowhere for the cruise
lines to pass those costs on passengers and that comes
directly off their bottom line. Addition to that is that
we are a very ex sense of destination. Our costs
are very high and have got higher, and at this

(01:05):
time of year I get well in the world these days,
with a number of other increases in costs around fuel
and so on, New Zealand is really we've priced ourselves
almost out of the market. We are one of the
most expensive destinations that crew finds visit. In the past,
you know, we have always been expensive and the passenger
ratings and satisfaction have outweighed that cost. But given the

(01:26):
current economic climate, the balances tip the other way and
we really are expensive. The third one is biofoiling risk,
so that is cruise ships cleaning their cleaning their hulls
and there and their undersides to make sure that they're
clean and tiety and they do wish to do so
absolutely and keep New Zealand waters clean, but there is

(01:48):
also always an overhanging risk that they might be denied
entry at the border. And you've got a full payload
of passengers on board expecting to be in New Zealand
and being denied as really unacceptable from a financial and
the brand rest point of view. And we've lost lines
like Koonard, you know, the beautiful Queen Anne's, Victoria's Mary.
They're not visiting New Zealand these coming season, so all

(02:09):
those things together have really created a negative perception from
Cruiseline executives. I'm sure they think New Zealand's unwelcoming, that
we're not wanting cruise, and they're reflecting that in their
deployment decisions for the next couple of years.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Jackie, Wow, just so much great information. Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it, Jackie Lloyd, New Zealand Cruise Association CEO.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
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