Northland welcomes the world

9 October, 2006

DESTINATION NORTHLAND : MEDIA RELEASES 2006

23 cruise ships carrying a total of over 12,000 passengers will be anchoring in Northland this summer - signalling a welcome return to pre 9/11 figures and including the first cruise ship to anchor in Whangarei.

In a meeting organised last week by Destination Northland, Captain Doug Colaco from McKay Shipping, the Shipping Agent of 21 of the 23 ships, reported that “All the ships that visited last year gave a very high rating of the Bay of Islands. This encourages them to visit again and gives us the reassurance that we can bring other ships to the region and know they will be well looked after.”

This year's cruise ships include the Oriana, carrying around 1828 passengers, and the luxurious floating apartment block, The World, where the super-rich residents live on board and vote on where in the world they want to travel next.

According to Nineke Metz of Destination Northland “Economic impact studies show that passengers travelling on cruise ships in New Zealand spend an average of $160 per day on retail while in port. This means that cruise ship passengers will spend almost 2 million dollars in Northland between October 2006 and May 2007”.

Destination Northland will be working alongside the District and Regional Councils, Northport Ltd, Far North Holdings Ltd and the local business associations in Russell, Paihia and Whangarei to ensure the ships receive a warm Northland welcome.

More information about cruise ship visits to Northland is available from the ‘getting around in Northland' section of the www.northlandnz.com website.