Editorial: We all benefit from voyages

Cruise ships benefit the Bay of Plenty

The cruise ships that sail in and out of Tauranga over the summer months look majestic as they take their place in the harbour.

The ships carry hundreds of passengers and provide a huge variety of entertainment for those on board, plus the opportunity to see several different places.

The cruise ship passengers are pretty easy to spot as they make their way around Mount Maunganui and many locals can be seen on Pilot Bay to watch the ships as they leave.

New Zealand's largest cruise ship Voyager of the Seas docked in Tauranga on Sunday fresh from a multimillion-dollar makeover that included a new FlowRider surf machine - the first of its kind to visit the country.

The 3400 passengers spent a day in Tauranga before heading off to Napier as part of an 11-night New Zealand cruise. The ship will also stop at Wellington and Picton before returning to Sydney on Saturday.

Earlier this year, this paper reported that figures showed about 40 per cent of cruise ship passengers would return to a place they liked while on the cruise, and local tourism heads hoped this would create huge opportunities for Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and the wider Bay of Plenty.

The 2012/13 season held the previous record with 82 cruise ships coming into port while 70 ships berthed in Tauranga last summer.

Each cruise ship passenger spent an average of $200 in the region, according to a Tourism Bay of Plenty report.

It was estimated last summer's cruise season injected $45 million to $50 million into the Western Bay economy and that the 2014/2015 season will bring in 218,000 passengers and pour more than $45 million into the Western Bay economy.

It is apparent that our economy is hugely reliant on this industry and it isn't only the cruise ship passengers who benefit from these impressive structures.

Long may that continue.