Cruise ship passengers contributed $59 million to the Bay of Plenty economy last year, a 40 per cent increase on the $42m in the year ending June 2015.
"This is due to the great work that Tourism Bay of Plenty, Port of Tauranga and our operators do to show our visitors an amazing time from the moment they disembark the vessel," Worsp said.
"As far as Rotorua is concerned roughly 50 per cent of passengers choose a shore excursion that involves a whole or part trip to Rotorua, helping to contribute to an annual visitor economy in Rotorua of $814m, and apart from the economic contribution there are other benefits that cruise offers such as the majority of port calls being mid-week and research tells us that cruise passengers have a high propensity for return visits by air."
Ngai Tahu Tourism North Island sales manager Andrew Aitken said cruise ship passengers accounted for about 10,000 visitors per year across the company's Rotorua businesses.
They were particularly significant to Rainbow Springs, which Aitken said was "better aligned" with what cruise passengers would be interested in checking out.
They were less of a significant market for the Agrodome, he said.
Worsp said the number of cruise visitors to New Zealand was continuing to increase each year.
From June 2016 to June 2017 the value of the cruise industry to New Zealand increased 12.5 per cent to $306m, with a total of 222,000 passengers.
Those passengers were largely made up of Australians, at 50 per cent, and Americans, at 18 per cent.
