According to Princess Cruises Australia and New Zealand vice-president Stuart Allison, in that five-month period the Sun Princess would operate 11 cruises out of and into Fremantle. Its sister ships the Dawn Princess and Sea Princess will offer 12 trips from Fremantle between April and October 2015.
The 23 trips in that 12-month period would be almost three times as much as the eight Princess Cruises offered in the 12 months to today.
Mr Allison said the extra cruises from Fremantle would see more than 45,000 passengers carried to and from Fremantle to destinations such as India, South Africa and South-East Asia, with an estimated $20 million boost for the economy.
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READ NOW‘Cruising is growing not only in Australia but also worldwide as holidaymakers respond to the huge number of cruise ships and itineraries,’ he said.
‘Our new program sees the addition of a fifth ship to our local fleet, a move which has expanded our capacity significantly and opened the way for us to sail from Fremantle over summer, giving WA its first ever year round deployment.’
City of Fremantle economic development and marketing manager Tom Griffiths said tourism was a ‘key economic driver’ for Fremantle and the announcement was welcomed.
‘It’s yet another highly encouraging announcement that underpins Fremantle’s status as WA’s most visited place and the destination of choice for more than 1.2 million tourists who visit annually,’ he said.
‘Given the importance of tourism to Fremantle, the city will continue to provide high-quality and innovative visitor servicing.’