Businesses rally to cash in on cruise business

by Carl McRae

Radiance of the Seas will dock at Aotea Quay on April 22 and with that, the curtain will come down on the 2018/19 cruise ship season. It will be the 109th docking over the summer months of the fleet of ocean liners that visit Wellington, bringing an estimated 228,000 passengers (51 percent from Australia), and adding $56 million to the local economy.

But in real terms, how much of that overseas dollar finds its way into our cafes, galleries and local enterprise here in Eastbourne?

Hamish Morison and Claire Schmidt, owners of Van Helden Gallery in Days Bay, say fund dispersion outside of Wellington city from cruise ships is negligible, with most outbound itineraries agreed in advance by the shipping companies.

Hamish admits that he has a somewhat jaundiced view of the cruise ship business. “The way things stand currently we don’t see much of a spin-off in Eastbourne and Days Bay, despite the efforts of quite a few individuals or organisations.”

Hamish was aware that there was little done to promote Days Bay and Eastbourne to the cruise clientele, and contacted East by West managing director Jeremy Ward to see what they could do about it.

East by West, in association with the Hutt

City Council and local businesses, set up the printing and distribution of a promotional brochure for Eastbourne and Days Bay.

“HCC put up four figures toward the artwork and printing costs,” Hamish says. “Simon Hoyle did a lot of photography and one by one we pulled it together.”

Although the brochure has been a success, Hamish admits that because of the way the cruise companies internalise their business, it has done little to attract any real revenue from these passengers to this side of the harbour.

“Those who have friends or relatives in Wellington,” says Hamish, “or those lucky enough to find the East by West ferry are the only real cruise passengers likely to end up discovering the jewel in the Hutt City crown.”

Jeremy Ward says his company never actively sought to court cruise passengers. He figured that having just gotten off a big boat, the last thing they’d want to do would be get back on a smaller one. “But I am continually blown away by numbers of passengers who appear in our office,” he says, “they do seem to find us and a percentage do invariably end up in Days Bay at least.”

HCC spokesperson Caryn Ellis says the council is most certainly involved in welcoming cruise ship passengers to our city.

“Retailers and tourism operators around Lower Hutt, Petone and operators in Days Bay

(including the East by West ferry) tell us that cruise passengers do visit,” she says, “and we have recently promoted a self-guided tour to Eastbourne businesses and we will promote this to other businesses around the city for the next cruise season.”

The HCC initiative earlier this summer saw Lower Hutt businesses hosting seventy of Wellington’s volunteer cruise ambassadors (coordinated by the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency), for a familiarisation tour of Lower Hutt’s ‘big backyard’.

Based at Williams Park, tour operators, cafe and gallery owners saw value contributing product or services in kind that promoted what a typical cruise passenger could do on a number 83 bus and ferry loop of Petone, Lower Hutt, Moera and Eastbourne, with a ferry back to Wellington from Days Bay.

HCC says it has produced a video in partnership with WREDA on Eastbourne and we’re about to launch one on Petone.”

Passengers have just a few hours - usually from 8am to 6pm - to explore and experience the attractions.

“It’s a big market and indications are that it will continue to grow,” says Jeremy Ward. “Next season, I’d suggest local businesses and cafes actively target them and we’ll bring as many of them across the harbour as we can.”