The Oosterdam visited Auckland again a week or so ago, docked at Queens Wharf.
I decided to interview a few of the passengers about how much they spent, and what they did while they were in Auckland.
Last time I blogged I wrote this piece questioning how lucrative the cruise ship industry actually is for Auckland Inc. An Auckland consultant emailed me about it, and sent me this info:
"....there are sources of information which can assist in understanding the value of cruise to NZ and Australia - the principal one being the annual Economic Impact report prepared for Cruise New Zealand by Market Economics (it used to be part funded by the former Ministry of Economic Development) available at this web site - http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/sector-marketing/cruise/ cruise-resources/
The early part of the report outlines the way in which the data is collected, modelled and presented. The direct expenditure figures included include cruise related (port, maritime costs, bunkering, providoring etc), passenger related (those you focussed on plus pre and post cruise expenditure and flights costs where applicable) and crew related (similar but related to crew). All of this was included in the reports to the ARC that made up the final report of the cruise project in 2009.
The regional summary data provides figures for total expenditure (including air fares and ship fuel) net expenditure (excluding those items) and value add (synonymous with GDP and the figure we mostly use as the one most applicable to the impact on the Auckland economy) The value add totals for 2012-13 shows that Auckland received $116.3m from 100 ship visits (thus the $1m a ship comment), made up of $66.3m from 179,800 passengers, $7.3m from 67,900 crew, and $42.7m from cruise vessel related value add.
Covec have looked more closely at passenger spend and conclude that each exchange passenger (those who start or finish their cruise in Auckland) is worth $1,128 and each transit passenger is worth $782 in terms of ground product purchases in the 2011-12 season...."
This piqued my interest further, and I decided I'd chat with a few passengers from time to time, when I had the time waiting for the Devonport ferry, and when there was a cruise ship in with passengers relaxing on Queens Wharf.
It turned out the Oosterdam was only in for the day - so that obviously meant passengers only had a day to do their thing in Auckland. I spoke to a group of Australians (there were five in the group, average age 65-70 I estimate), and a young bloke who turned out to be from Belgium.
This is the guts of what the Australians told me:
"we spent $75 each on two bus tours and a few drinks...." (Not much. It seems it's the bus tour operators who do best out of cruise ship visits.)
"we get everything we need on the ship - we don't need to buy stuff...." (This seems obvious. If you've paid for your meals in your cruise fare - why would you spend more?)
"we each paid a few thousand for our cruise tickets..." (This is an indication of how wealthy cruise ship passengers are, and how much discretionary money they have for extras.)
They reckoned "American tourists spend more", and said more than half the passengers were from Australia.
The guy from Belgium told me he didn't spend any money in Auckland. Just walked around the waterfront improving his suntan and taking pictures. But he said he did spend $2000 in Christchurch. When I asked him about that, he explained he bought a camera, and that duties payable in NZ for such things is less than in Belgium. Maybe we are seen as a duty free port by some?
The Aussies I spoke to were from Sydney. They said they really liked the Queens Wharf docking location.... "fantastic to be so near the centre, compared with what it's like in Sydney". Now. You might read that as supporting a view that cruise ship parking on Queens Wharf should be retained. But you can read it another way. That is that Auckland has bent over backwards to allow cruise ship parking in the heart of the CBD - at the expense of providing a central park for its citizens.
2 comments:
Interesting - Goes to show that some of the economic analysis is probably flawed..
For what it's worth, we stayed in Auckland and visited the Waterfront as tourists about a month ago. We really enjoyed it and concluded it was hugely successful and fun.
But I would like to comment on the Cruise Ships. They do have a presence when seen from a distance and add to the overall drama of Auckland Harbour. But that's where it stops.
I hope this doesn't sound ungracious, but the Hilton Hotel that hogs the prime quay on the
waterfront is awful. And its cruise ship like architecture - massive, overbearing and soulless - detracts from the colourful hustle and bustle of the ferry terminal. And the multiplex of
gangplanks hanging off the facade suggest that cruise ships tie up there (?).
There was a cruise ship the other side, and this is my second beef! When we went to explore Shed 10 with its wonderful finished interior, we discovered it had been turned into
the boarding and processing hall for the cruise ship tied alongside. I've no idea whether the queuing passengers had spent
any money in the city shops, but the fact that there was a cluster of rather sad stalls selling
souvenirs, next to the exit door, suggested that the visit had been somewhat rushed.
Come on Shed 10, you can do better than that!
No worries though, whoever planned and developed the Waterfront has had some mind boggling ideas and put people first.
We had a really positive and interesting four hours there, most of it spent inside the cement silos on Wynyard wharf - enjoying Joseph Michael's HD time lapse landscapes and chatting to the man himself.
Nearby, the oligarchs yachts were being fussed and fitte and close by there's an old fashioned fishmarket. Also there's a tourist information centre in a pile of containers, then a single container fitted out as a sitting room and library.
Please don't measure the success of the Waterfront in terms of the amount of money people spend. We had breakfast, not much more. But we were enriched.
At the far end of the walkway there's a set of fuel tanks, decked out in silk effect paint and displaying lines from a poem about Auckland Harbour:
'There are dreamscapes
and realscapes
this one I suspect
is real'
Which somehow seems to sum up the
achievements along the Waterfront.
Post a Comment