Port Douglas, a small and idyllic town in Queensland, Australia has seen the record number of cruise visit and it is the trend set in action to continue in the next two years.
The cruise liners such as Sun Princess, Sea Princess, Pacific Dawn and Pacific Jewel are delivering visitors that ‘love Port Douglas’ in their droves. The passenger capacities of each and every cruise liners are over 1500 each.
The tourist surge sees many businesses in town get a stable boost in tourists purchasing their products. The tourists’ expenditure has increased in Port Douglas.
Port Douglas normally only have one employee at the counter, but when there is a cruise ship there the management have two employees. It is with an average of around 500 extra people wanting to catch the Bally Hooley train, and over 1000 extra people booking other trips.
Although there are many positive vibes, some restaurants and food outlets in Port Douglas say many passengers choose to eat on board before exploring the town.
There are the strict rules of what people can and can’t bring back on ships, along with the short amount of time there docked, meant some businesses didn’t receive major benefits.
But the negative is about the tourist coming on the cruise ships is they are told not to take any food back on with them, limiting what food products they purchase in Port Douglas.
However, Constantine Retsas from Port Douglas Opal and Jewellery Centre said what might not be good for him ‘might be good for my neighbour.
The one thing that all local businesses in Port Douglas agree on is they want more tourists from all over the world to come and experience the local food, tourism attractions and scenery of Port Douglas.
