The good news for tourism in Australia is that business is about to boom even further and the number of cruise ships arriving in the 2012-2013 season could see more than anywhere else. The bad news is that the current ports cannot cope with such demand.
Australians have always been known for being everywhere, with an Aussie voice audible in most resorts around the world. Nowadays Australians are enjoying greater numbers of incoming tourists, many of whom come by ship.
Soaring demand is now hitting the local ports, which seem unable to cope with such a flow of vessels. Indeed, some of the ports have bridges, which do not allow for larger ships to pass through. The problem now is finding a way to wisely invest and meet the demands of the booming industry.
The CEO of Celebrity Cruise, a major Australian cruise ship company, has stated that Sydney’s port is inadequate and underdeveloped and could hamper business in years to come. Most ships will have to make diversions to industrial areas of Sydney due to the size of the harbor bridge and there is an insufficient amount of entertainment, tour operators and refreshment on land. A simple port would be sufficient but Sydney currently fails to fulfill the necessary criteria.
The Royal Caribbean company has promised to quadruple the amount of traffic to Australia in the near future yet warns of similar problems. It is concerned about poorly positioned and unattractive Australian ports being unable to survive with such an amount of traffic. In order to take advantage of such an opportunity, Australians must improve the infrastructure of their ports in years to come.