Five-star ship visit puts port on map
EXCLUSIVE: A FRENCH Polynesian cruise ship is to be based in Cairns during two of its 2014 itineraries.
The five-star boutique MS Paul Gauguin will use Cairns as its turnaround port between cruises to Singapore and Fiji next year.
Business leaders say it is the first step towards a campaign to base an international cruise ship in Cairns during the cruising season which would give the economy a multimillion-dollar windfall each year.
Paul Gauguin Cruises president Diane Moore said the company was thrilled that Cairns would be a new port for their passengers.
“We look forward to operating cruises between Cairns and Fiji, and between Singapore and Cairns, aboard the MS Paul Gauguin in June and August 2014,” she said.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland sales and marketing director Brian Hennessy said it was a significant decision by the owners of the luxurious 332-passenger ship.
“This is exciting for Cairns to have an international cruise ship do a turnaround as it means passengers and crew fly in and out of our city for their voyage and spend some time sampling the local tourism assets,” he said.
“A new audience of holidaymakers who enjoy the tropics will be travelling aboard the MS Paul Gauguin and they will get to experience our unique dual World Heritage areas of the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics rainforest. It also will showcase Cairns as an ideal destination for turnarounds, building our credentials to become a base port for cruise ships.
“From an economic point of view, we have the obvious benefit of the ships’ passengers taking some of the more than 600 tours departing Cairns daily.
Five-star ship visit puts port on map
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