Two cruise ships - Diamond Princess and Pacific Jewel - were in port yesterday with a combined 4500 passengers.
They mixed with the tour-bus visitors and Masters Games participants to keep retailers and hospitality businesses busy.
"I think everyone would have done very well out of today," Dunedin City Council visitor centre team leader Louise van de Vlierd said.
The centre had double its usual numbers for this time of year through its doors yesterday, and had clocked up 2149 tourists by 2pm, she said.
"It's brilliant; the place is pulsing."
Popular with the visitors were the city and Larnach Castle tours and wildlife tours also sold out quickly in the morning, she said.
It was both ships' first port of call in New Zealand since they crossed the Tasman so most passengers were keen to "touch ground again", she said.
The Scottish Shop owner Erin Hogan said it had been a busy day and while tourists were buying, they were more conscious of price and where the product came from.
"We love cruise ships."
Diamond Princess passengers Ron and Marilyn Misurka, of Canada, described Dunedin as "very clean, very nice" and could not wait for their tour of the Cadbury factory.
New South Wales residents Vicki and Steve Hewett and Lorraine and Dino Lepore had been caught out by the good weather, as they had dressed for a cooler Dunedin, but they all praised the city's "helpful, friendly" people and the staff at the visitor centre.
