South African tourism is set to enjoy a significant boost when one of the world's largest cruise liners - Sun Princess - visits four local ports this

Spending up as cruise liner visits

February 17, 2009 Edition 3

South African tourism is set to enjoy a significant boost when one of the world's largest cruise liners visits four local ports this year.

Princess Cruises' Sun Princess - with a passenger capacity of more than 2 200 - will be docking at Richards Bay, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town between May and June this year en route to Fremantle (Australia).

Princess Cruises, owned by Carnival Corporation, is represented in South Africa by Discover the World Marketing (DTWM).

DTWM director Sabrina Allcock says the Sun Princess is one of the cruise line's largest ships.
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"We are so delighted to have one of our ships visiting South Africa this year … and it's a bonus that people all around the country will have a chance to see her."

Allcock says each of the harbour cities can expect to enjoy a revenue boost from visitors disembarking to enjoy the local sights and shopping. The 2007 Cruise Line International Association Economic Impact Study (released in October 2008) shows that on a typical cruise ship call, a 2 500-passenger ship generated an average of R358 000 in passenger and crew onshore spending per call.

South African passengers will be able to embark on the Sun Princess in Cape Town. Other package deals have been put together for South Africans. For example, there's an offer of a one-way flight to Fremantle, where passengers will join the ship in a voyage to locations such as Malaysia and Thailand. - Sapa