They are set to have a busy week with seven cruise ships arriving in port in seven days bringing thousands of passengers into the city.
Retailers say they are hopeful more passengers come in with the larger cruise ships.
The Little Rock Shop retail assistant Aiesha Goswami said the jewellery store got a lot of its business from cruise ships.
The shop had noticed there had been fewer cruise ships this year and when the biggest cruise ship of the season, Anthem of the Seas, was cancelled on Christmas Eve, it impacted business.
"That one was a real hit to us."
Dunedin was the last port for the Anthem of the Seas, which meant passengers would have been likely to spend more because there were no more stops left, Miss Goswami said.
The season had been worse in comparison to other years because there were not as many ships arriving.
She said a lot of factors contributed to what made passengers go inside shops and make purchases, including where the buses that brought them in from port were parked.
If the buses were brought into the Octagon, the shops generally had more sales because the tourists shopped more rather than going on excursions.
Nonetheless, she had her fingers crossed this coming week would bring customers to the store.
Octagon shops I Love Merino and For Little Kiwis owner Colin Lim said although there were seven cruise ships coming in, only two — Discovery Princess and Celebrity Edge — brought in a lot of customers because they were bigger.
Discovery Princess carries about 3660 passengers and Celebrity Edge can carry 2918.
Mr Lim said he made about 70% to 80% of his sales in the cruise ship season, but this year he had not sold as much because there were fewer cruise ships and fewer passengers.
"It’s been pretty average," he said.
In previous years he had had to employ an extra person.
George St retailer Mountain Warehouse assistant manager Katelyn Wallbank expected this week to be very busy.
She said it "greatly anticipated" the cruise ships coming in and employed extra staff.
If there was "crummy weather" more people called into the store to buy jackets as well.
The arrival of the Celebrity Edge was always "intense", she said.
Dunedin Isite Visitor Centre team leader Izumi Nakamura said it had organised multiple isite stops to cater for passengers around the city.
Buses brought passengers from the ships into town and parked in locations including the Octagon and outside Toitū Otago Settlers Museum.
Passengers were given a map which directed them into the central city, or they could choose to go on a variety of different excursions to see tourist sights.
Lanarch Castle was the most popular, followed by wildlife tours provided by Monarch Wildlife Cruises & Tours and Opera (Otago Peninsula Eco Restoration Alliance).
Passengers on high-end cruises tended to already have their trip planned, whereas passengers on larger ships were given options when they arrived into the city.
Isite worked with local tourism businesses to promote their tours to passengers by setting up kiosks at the cruise ship terminals and Toitū.
