Sydney’s biggest cruise month starts today, according to Carnival Australia, as the city welcomes a record number of ships this month to celebrate this year’s Festival of Cruising.

Commencing today, the month of February will see Sydney’s harbour welcome up to 26 ships, five more than last year’s event.

Hosting the annual event reiterated the sector’s significance to NSW, Minister for Tourism and Major Events George Souris noted.

He explained that as well as offering Australians access to “one of the most exciting segments in the leisure market”, cruising would also assist NSW reach its 2020 expenditure growth plans.

“It continues to make a valuable contribution to the State’s economy and is an important factor that has helped the NSW Government develop its strategy to double expenditure by visitors to NSW by 2020,” Mr Souris said.
  
Representing up to 13 of this year’s visiting liners, Carnival Australia chief executive Ann Sherry concurred, explaining that the festival was an emphasis of the importance of cruising in Australia’s tourism sector.

“Passenger ships are also a vital part of Sydney Harbour’s maritime heritage and while our ships will visit ports around Australia during the Festival of Cruising, Sydney remains the Australian gateway for visiting ships,” Ms Sherry said.

Ship’s expected to stop by Sydney’s shores over the month of February include the Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth, Oriana, Aurora and the Diamond Princess.

Earlier this week a Carnival Australia commission report found that cruising turnover in New South Wales is expected to triple to up to $1.3 billion by 2020.

Ms Sherry said this contribution to the economy made the industry a “dynamic” asset.

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