Tasmania Tourism Council Call For Five Year Suspension On Mega Cruise Ships

Tasmania’s peak tourism body are pushing for a five year ban on cruise ships anchoring at Tasmanian ports.

The large cruise ships often carry up to 5,000 passengers who regularly disembark at Tasmanian ports.

The Tourism Industry Council also passed a resolution which seeks to put a restriction on the number of people arriving on cruise ships per day.

“TICT supports the following outcomes from the Tasmanian Government’s policy framework for the future of Tasmania as a cruise destination,” the resolution said.

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The resolution is pushing for a five year suspension on large cruise ships in Tasmania, a cap on the number of passengers permitted to arrive at Tasmanian ports and the introduction of a new fee system for cruise ships entering preserved areas of Tasmania over the next year.

Tourism Industry Council chairperson Daniel Leesong said at the 2022 Tasmanian Tourism Conference that Tasmania does not have the capacity to support such large cruise ships.

“We don’t believe Tasmania is suitable for these new generation mega-ships – these massive cruise ships with 5,000 plus passengers,” he said.

“They’re too big – and there are more than enough small and medium cruise ships for us to build a vibrant cruise destination around.

“Secondly, we want sensible managed boundaries around the number of cruise ship passengers that are in Tasmania each day.”

Mr Leeson said the new restrictions will allow Tasmania to continue to preserve “protected areas” while continuing to maintain its status as a “premium cruise destination”.

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