The coming months will be pivotal for cruising in New Zealand, with demand for cruise here rising but actual cruise visits remaining down—and a New Zealand Cruise Association delegation is at Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami this week to lobby the case for Kiwi cruising before it’s too late.
Last summer cruise ship visits to New Zealand were down 40% on the peak levels, and NZCA chair Tansy Tompkins says there is still stagnated deployment into New Zealand for the 2026/27 season.
She attributes the drop to the fact New Zealand remains hard for cruise lines to justify deploying to.
“New Zealand must shift from treating cruise as a given, to earning its place as a destination of choice,” says Tompkins.
She warns that New Zealand’s cruise industry is at a tipping point, adding that if the country does not begin to see recovery in deployment from 2027/28 onwards, it risks losing the capability, investment, and infra structure that underpin cruise in New Zealand. “And once lost, that will take years to rebuild.”
. . . Seatrade Mission
As such, Tompkins says NZCA is attending Seatrade with a focus on restoring cost competitiveness, rebuilding confidence and providing certainty around cruise in New Zealand, this including biosecurity progress, noting that there has been some meaningful movement.
“Government engagement has strengthened, cruise is now recognised within the Tourism Growth Roadmap, a Cruise Forum has been established, and there has been tangible movement on key issues like biofouling, regulatory clarity, and cost transparency,” says Tompkins. “These are really important signals and ones we will reinforce in our conversations at Seatrade.”
NZCA and the 18 other organisations attending Seatrade from New Zealand will also work on growing demand. Tompkins says the strong presence at Seatrade is just one part of NZCA’s focus on rebuilding our local cruise sector.
Closer to home NZCA is high lighting cruise as a high-value, regionally distributed visitor segment that requires a coordinated, cross-agency approach to rebuild, she states. The opportunity remains, says Tompkins, with New Zealand a world-class destination.
“The demand is there,” she says. “The outcome now depends on how we show up, both offshore and at home.”
