$60m cruise spending boost for Dunedin

Golden Princess, the last vessel of the cruise ship season, mirrored in a window at Port Otago. PHOTO: GERARD O’BRIEN

The city received the second most passengers after Auckland, with 238,000, up 32% on the year before.

Stats NZ said today cruise ship spending hit $570 million in the year ended June 2019.

That figure includes a national spend by passengers of more than $370 million, a vessel spend, including the likes of fuel, of more than $145 million, and GST of $54 million.

Stats NZ said the $125.2 million lift in annual cruise spending reflected a surge in the number of cruise voyages, port calls, and passengers.

That followed an 11% increase for the June 2018 year.

The visit by Le Laperouse to Dunedin in March this year marked the first time 100 cruise ships had visited the city in one season. PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIEN

Cruise ship spending had risen every year since 2015, but the annual increase in the latest 12 months was the biggest in both dollar and percentage terms, national accounts senior manager Gary Dunnet said.

In the June 2019 year, the New Zealand Cruise Association recorded 176 ship voyages and 981 port calls, up from 148 and 707 respectively in the 2018 year.

Nearly 322,000 cruise ship passengers visited New Zealand in the year to June 2019, up 24% (62,000) from 2018.

Auckland and Dunedin ports had the largest number of passengers.

Auckland received 239,000 passengers, up 13% (28,000), while Dunedin received 238,000, up 32% (58,000).