pleased to announce that from next Wednesday, 25 August, the 2010 Cruise Down Under Conference
will sail into Brisbane. The 14th annual Cruise Down Under Conference is being sponsored by Tourism
Queensland, Portside Wharf and Brisbane Marketing and will bring together about 100 delegates from
across the Asia-Pacific region.
The Cruise Down Under Conference is the premier cruise shipping conference for tourism and
cruise officials to come together to discuss the state of the industry, trends, international port
comparisons and the sustainability of the industry. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Rise to the
Challenge’. Keynote speakers include top international and domestic cruise executives, such as Bruce
Krumrine, Vice-President of Shore Operations for Princess Cruises; and Craig Milan, Senior Vice-
President of Land Operations for Royal Caribbean Cruises and also President of Royal Celebrity Tours.
Attendees will gain insights into the challenges for the industry following the global financial crisis and
the continuous growth of cruise shipping in Australia and Queensland in particular.
Tourism Queensland has increased its focus on the cruise industry in recent months, as it has
been experiencing continued growth in recent years. Between 2008 and 2009, Queensland’s cruise
shipping industry generated more than $203 million in related expenditure—an increase of more than
$52 million on the previous year—and also supported more than 1,000 full-time jobs for Queenslanders.
Furthermore, the total number of passengers onboard cruise ships that docked in Queensland ports
during the same year amounted to almost 248,000—an increase of more than 78,000 compared with
2007-08.
Cruise shipping has been identified as a priority development opportunity for Queensland, and
supporting the industry’s growth is a key action under the Bligh government’s Tourism Action Plan to
2012. It is great news that Brisbane is hosting the conference, but it is even better that this particular
sector of tourism is growing. This shows the benefits of having a plan—the Bligh Government’s Tourism
Action Plan to 2012—and delivering on that plan to protect jobs and help steer the tourism industry
through both the good times and the bad.
