Paper Developing the Cruise Tourism Potential

Paper for the “Cruise Shipping Opportunities and Challenges: markets, technologies and local development”, Conference, Naples, Italy, 4-6 October 2007

Contact Person: James Seymour
Tourism KwaZulu-Natal
PO Box 2516
Durban
South Africa
4000
Phone: +27 31 366 7500
Mobile: +27 82 925 5508
Email:

Title of Paper: Developing the Cruise Tourism Potential of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands

Content area:Main Theme

Author:James Seymour
Non TTRA Member
Tourism KwaZulu-Natal
PO Box 2516
Durban
South Africa
4000
Phone: +27 31 366 7500
Mobile: +27 82 925 5508
Email:

DEVELOPING THE CRUISE TOURISM POTENTIAL OF THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS

James Seymour

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract:One of the core challenges, which are currently facing the rapidly growing cruise tourism industry, is the increasing demand of cruisers for new cruise destinations. One of the few areas that have not yet been effectively developed for cruise tourism is the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.

The purpose of this paper will be to provide an overview of a feasibility study which Tourism KwaZulu-Natal commissioned in 2001 and which was published in 2003, to assess the cruise tourism potential of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands and a subsequent implementation plan which was mobilised by Tourism KwaZulu-Natal to begin to unleash this potential.

Keywords: cruise tourism destinations; East Africa; Indian Ocean Islands.

INTRODUCTION

One of the core challenges, which are currently facing the rapidly growing cruise tourism industry, is the increasing demand of cruisers for new cruise destinations. One of the few areas that have not yet been effectively developed for cruise tourism is the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. This paper provides an overview of a feasibility study which Tourism KwaZulu-Natal commissioned in 2001 and which was published in 2003, to assess the cruise tourism potential of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands and a subsequent implementation plan which in being mobilised by Tourism KwaZulu-Natal to begin to unleash this potential.

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN) is a South African provincial Destination Management Organisation. A DMO can be defined as an entity that is involved with increasing tourism flow to a destination or improving its image and developing its tourism potential (The Travel Industry Dictionary, 2006).

According to the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Act of 1996 and as amended in 2002, the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority, which operates under the name of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, has a mandate to promote and develop the tourism product of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal (KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government, 2006). KwaZulu-Natal’s government provides this parastatal organisation with an annual budget to enable it to fulfil this function.

The organisation’s vision is, “To position the Province of KwaZulu-Natal as Africa’s leading tourism destination, nationally and internationally” (Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, 2006). Its mission is, “To initiate, facilitate, co-ordinate and implement:

- Strategic tourism marketing, and

- Demand–driven tourism development programmes

Which grow tourism, thereby serving to achieve:

- The transformation of the tourism sector within the Province;

- Economic benefits (for) all stakeholders and the Province” (Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, 2006).

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal was recently accredited by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) as a SBest DMO. This organisation was the 6th DMO in the world to acquire this status. It was also awarded the prestigious 2007 UNWTO Ulysess Award for Innovation in Tourism Governance in the realm of Knowledge Management.

This province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is a tourism destination, which is also fondly referred to and branded as the 'Zulu Kingdom'. It is an area which is renowned for its:

- Natural attractions – the Drakensberg and Greater St Lucia Wetland Park World Heritage sites, and game reserves of the like of Hluhluwe-Imfolozi where the white rhino was saved from extinction

- Pre-history and History - Border Cave in the Maputaland area of this province for example is the site, which has some of the earliest evidence of modern manor Homo Sapiens Sapiens. The Drakensberg is renowned for its evidence of the early San people or Bushmen, and this was one of the reasons why this magnificent mountain range was declared a World Heritage Site. KZN also has a history which is associated with likes of King Shaka, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, Alan Paton, Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela - and critical events such as the battles of Isandlwana, Rorke’s Drift, Colenso and Spioenkop.

- Rich Cultural Mix – a mix which ranges from the cultures of the second biggest Indian population outside mainland India to the famous Zulu people.

- ‘Beach Culture’ - a range of Blue Flag beaches, a host of internationally recognised surf spots and one of the most important events on the international professional surfing calendar – Durban Beach Africa.

TKZN commissioned a practical investigation in July 2002 to:

- Determine the nature and extent of the global cruise industry;

- Analyse ‘success stories’ or important case studies cases of cruise tourism destinations such as the Caribbean and Australia’s East Coast;

- Review the current state of South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal cruise industry;

- Identify practical projects to develop this industry;

- Formulate an implementation plan and broad budgets for these projects.

THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF CRUISE TOURISM

Cruise tourism can be defined as the use of ships for pleasure cruising and not merely for transportation (UNWTO, 1997). Ocean and coastal cruise tourism is unique in the manner in which it provides a combination of transportation, accommodation, entertainment, retail and destination services. Cruise liners can be regarded as floating resort facilities, which have the major advantage of seasonal repositioning.

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal’s cruise tourism study emphasised the fact that cruise tourism is an important niche market. This market was estimated to be10.3 million in 2001, which represented 1.5% of global tourists. In 2006 this market had grown to some 12 million and it is projected that it will grow to 16 million by 2009. The average growth rate of this sector has been in the order of 8% per annum, since 1980, making it the fastest growing global tourism sector. At Seatrade Miami 2007 it was reported that the value of this sector in terms of direct tourism expenditure is some 29 Billion US Dollars and is a industry that sustains some 559 000 jobs.

Three cruise liner groups, with a series of brands or subsidiaries, namely Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean and the Star Cruise Group, dominate the cruise industry. It is expected that these groups will control in the order of 90% of the cruise tourism market by 2010.

In 2001 some 6.9 million of this market originated from North America, 0.8 million from the United Kingdom and 0.4 million from Germany. This study also reinforced the observation that cruise tourists tend to be wealthy, frequent travellers, who use cruises to sample destinations. Cruise tourists tended to be to be drawn from more middle to mature age segments, but this tendency is changing as more younger segments are being attracted to this form of tourism.

There are three main types of cruise tours, namely:

- A World Cruise- is when a cruise ship embarks upon a round-the world cruise, commencing at a home-port, such as Southampton in the UK and after circumnavigating the world, calling at a various selection of destinations over a period of 3-months or more, will finally arrive back at its home-port.

- A Repositioning Cruise- is when a cruise ship is relocating from one home-port of destination and offers cruise sectors to another, due to the change of the geographic offer of the cruise itinerary for climatic and/or commercial reasons. This usually occurs for reasons of seasonality as the first home-port moves into its winter period, with the cruise ship relocating to a new home-port that is entering its summer period and is driven by cruise line perceptions of market demand.

- A Destination Cruise- is when a cruise ship is located within a ‘home-port’ in close proximity to the area of its cruise itinerary and returns to the home-port at the end of each cruise.

In 2001 the market share of the various cruise destinations were as follows;

- 46.6% Caribbean & Bahamas

- 21.1% Europe & Mediterranean

- 7.9% Alaska

- 5.3% Mexico West Coast

- 3.3% Panama Canal

- 2.9% Hawaii

- 2.2% South America

- 10.7% Other Destinations

THE CURRENT NATURE OF CRUISE TOURISM ALONG THE COASTLINE OF SOUTH AFRICA AND THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA

The current cruise tours that take place along the coastline of South Africa and the rest of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands tend to be repositioning and world cruises. The repositioning that takes place tends to be for the newly established cruise tourism destinations of Australia, New Zealand and South America or when repositioning from these destinations to the Mediterranean and North America for their summer cruise seasons. Good examples of repositioning tours are the tours of the cruise liner Marco Polo and the Pacific Princess. The most important world cruise tours that incorporate South African and other East African ports are the tours undertaken by Carnival’s Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth II. Currently there is only one operators that offers destination cruises from a South African port, namely the destination cruise tours of Star Light Cruises, that operate MSC Cruise lines out of the port of Durban. Some 38 port of calls are currently made by MSC Melody from this port during October to April.

The most important period for cruise tourism in South African waters and the rest of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands is the period between September to April.

The current level of cruising has remained relatively consistent in South African and East African waters since 2001. The current rate of calls to one of the key cruise ports in this area, namely Durban has remained relatively constant at approximately 50 port of calls per annum. Some 45 000 passengers embark on cruise tours in South African ports per annum. Of these roughly 9 000 are foreign. South Africa’s share of the cruise passenger market is estimated to be in the order of 0.5%.

SOME POTENTIAL ROUTES FOR DESTINATION CRUISES

The South African coastline and the rest of the East Coast of Africa offer a wide range of attractions that would make the establishment of destination cruise operations feasible. These range from the well known Table Mountain, Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, and Winelands of the port of Cape Town, to the Addo Elephant Park and beaches in the vicinity of the ports of Port Elizabeth and East London, to the sub-tropical beaches, Zulu cultural villages, the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and Ukhlahamba-Drakenberg World Heritage Site, which are within easy reach of the port of Durban, to famous game reserves of the like of Hluhluwe-Imfilosi, Tembe Elephant Park and the Isimangiliso or Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in close vicinity of the Port of Richards Bay, to Mozambique’s tropical beaches and islands close to the port of Maputo, to the Serengeti, tropical beaches and islands of the like of Zanzibar within close range of the Tanzanian port of Dar Es Salem and the Kenyan port of Mombassa, to the tropical majesty of the islands of Madagascar, Reunion, Mauritius and the Seychelles.

The following are examples of itineraries offered by two liners that operate in South African waters and off the rest of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands:

Silver Cloud (Princess Cruises) (cruisedirect.co.uk, 2007):

African Odyssey (12 Day cruise)

South African Sojourn (14 Day Cruise)

MSC Melody – Starlight Cruises (2007)

- Italy to Durban (21 Days):

Genoa - Naples - Port Said - Suez - Safaga - Aqaba -Seychelles - Mauritius - Reunion – Durban

- Cruise to Nowhere (2 nights):

Durban - Nowhere – Durban

- Barra Lodge (4 nights)

Durban - Barra Lodge – Durban

- Portuguese Islands 3 nights:

Durban - Portuguese Island – Durban

- Bazaruto Island 4 nights:

Durban - Bazaruto Island – Durban

- Maputo and Bazuruto Island 5 nights:

Durban - Maputo - Portuguese Island - Barra Lodge – Durban

- Mauritius 10 Nights

Durban - Mauritius – Durban

- Zanzibar - Mombasa - Seychelles 21 Nights:

Durban - Zanzibar - Mombasa - Seychelles - Suez - Port

Said - Naples - Genoa

CORE RECOMMENDATIONS THAT EMERGED FROM THE KWAZULU-NATAL CRUISE TOURISM STUDY

The core short-term recommendations that emerged from Tourism KwaZulu-Natal’s cruise tourism study were:

- To attempt to increase the number of ‘passengers on shore’. Cruise tourists spend well in excess of $100 per day on shore. More attractive itineraries are needed to encourage the berthing of world and repositioning cruises and for longer periods of time.

- To market to cruise passengers when in port. Cruise ships could be regarded as ‘floating tourism consumer shows’ and offer a destination a unique opportunity to ‘reach’ hundreds of potential future tourists in a relatively short period of time.

The view was also expressed that KwaZulu-Natal’s current port facilities were adequate for receiving cruise liners, but there was a need to improve passenger related services such as taxis, security and tours. In addition the report stressed that the issues of provisioning and maintaining cruise ships was a services worth approximately four times the spend of a liner of cruise tourists. Ports of the nature of Durban and Richards Bay were thus encouraged to position themselves to provide such services on a regular basis.

This study concluded that in the long term there was real potential to develop the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands as a cruise destination. It was highlighted that it could be argued that this is already happening and that Kenya and Tanzania were aggressively pursuing this option, with plans to develop state of the art cruise terminal facilities. Richards Bay and Durban were encouraged to include plans for luxury cruise terminal facilities in their long terms plans for their ports.

Finally, KwaZulu-Natal was encouraged to take the lead by establishing institutional structures in the cities of Richards Bay and Durban, and at a provincial level to ensure that appropriate services are provided to cruise ships when they call at their ports and to market their port facilities to cruise line companies. A call was also made to encourage the coastal provinces of South Africa to join the Cruise Indian Ocean Association (CIAO) and in so doing bolster the efforts of this organisation to promote the cruise tourism potential of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.

CONCLUSION – IMPLEMENTATION STEPS AND FUTURE PLANS

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal has as a result of these recommendations become and active member of the CIAO and participates in the core marketing activities of this association. The most notable of these being an exhibition stand at Seatrade Miami and Seatrade Europe.. Tourism KwaZulu-Natal has also encouraged Mozambique and the other core coastal provinces of South Africa, the Eastern Cape (with its ports of East London and Port Elizabeth) and the Western Cape (with its port of Cape Town) to join this organisation.

The key future plans of the CIAO include:

- Requesting a dedicated session at the Seatrade Miami Cruise Conference in 2008 to highlight the cruise tourism potential of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands;

- To arrange an educational for the development executives of the ten leading cruise liners to observe the cruise tourism potential of this area;

- To develop a long terms cruise tourism development strategy for this region.

The ports of Durban, Richards Bay and Cape Town have included plans for luxury cruise terminal facilities in their overall expansion plans for these ports. In addition tourism welcome facilities and information services are provided when cruise ships berth in Durban and Richards Bay. Finally, the construction of the long awaited Dube trade port and King Shaka International Airport, with a runway of just over 3.8km has commenced and will be completed by the end of 2009. This is expected to increase the attractiveness of Durban as a ‘fly in’ destination for cruise tourists.