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

James SeymourTourism 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.

1

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

2

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 3

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;

4

- 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

5

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)

Day Port Description

1 Port Louis Port Louis, Mauritius

2 (At Sea) cruising

3 Toamasina Toamasina, Madagascar6

4 (At Sea) cruising

5 Tulear Tulear, Madagascar

6 (At Sea) cruising

7 Richards Bay Richards Bay, South Africa

8 Richards Bay Richards Bay, South Africa

9 Durban Durban, South Africa

10 (At Sea) cruising

11 (At Sea) cruising

12 Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa

South African Sojourn (14 Day Cruise)

Day Port Description

1 Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa

2 (At Sea) cruising

3 Walvis Bay Walvis Bay, South Africa

4 Walvis Bay Walvis Bay, South Africa

5 (At Sea) cruising

6 (At Sea) cruising

7 Port Elizabeth Port Elizabeth, South Africa

8 (At Sea) cruising

9 Richards Bay Richards Bay, South Africa

10 Richards Bay Richards Bay, South Africa

11 Durban Durban, South Africa

12 East London East London, South Africa

13 (At Sea) cruising

14 Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa

MSC Melody – Starlight Cruises (2007)

- Italy to Durban (21 Days):7

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 8

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

9

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.

--o0o--

References:

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government. (2002). The KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Act of 2006 as amended in 2002. Retrieved 2 December 2006, from http://www.kzn.org.za/kzn/kznta/5.xml.

The Travel Industry Dictionary.. (2006). Destination Marketing Organisations. Retrieved 12 December 2006, from http://www.hometravelagency.com/dictionary/destination-marketing-organization.html

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal. (2006). Tourism KwaZulu-Natal’s Tourism Strategy 2006 – 10

2011. Durban: Tourism KwaZulu-Natal.

Starlight Cruises. (2007). Cruise Programmes. Downloaded from http://www.starlightcruises.co.za/ as at 27 August 2007.

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal. (2003). Developing The KwaZulu-Natal Cruise Tourism.Industry. Durban: Tourism KwaZulu-Natal.Industry.

Cruisedirect. (2007) Destinations. Downloaded from http://www.cruisedirect.co.uk/destinations/ as at 28 August 2007.

UNWTO. 1997. International Tourism: A Global Perspective. Madrid: World Tourism Organisation.

11

Developing the Cruise Tourism Potential of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands: A High Level Report

1. Market Insights

Cruise tourism, or cruising for pleasure, is the fastest growing form of tourism. The current growth rate of this sector is in the order of 8% per annum and the scale of this market is now approximately 16mn cruise passengers per annum. The value of this sector in terms of direct tourism expenditure is some 29 Billion US Dollars and it is an industry that sustains some 559,000 jobs. 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. Cruise tourists tend to be wealthy, frequent travelers , who use cruises to sample destinations and very often return to such destinations as ‘normal’ tourists if they have a satisfying experience. 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. Cruisers are very loyal customers but they are constantly looking for new destinations. The East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands is one of the few global regions that has not been utilised to a significant degree for cruise tourism and has significant potential if the vast tourism attractions or this area are considered.

However, cruise tourism is a niche market dominated by three main suppliers with a series of brands or subsidiaries, namely Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean and the Star Cruise Group. It is expected that these groups will control in the order of 90% of the cruise tourism market by 2010.

The core experiences that are sold by cruise liners corporations are destination, world and repositioning cruises. 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. It is important to note that destination cruises are cruises in a broad regional area that transcends national boundaries. Good examples of cruise destinations being the Caribbean; Mediterranean, Baltic Sea and Australasia. Regional cruise marketing agencies made up of the countries, provinces or regions and ports of call engage the major cruise shipping companies product development executives primarily through Seatrade trade shows, one on one sales calls and through educationals . Good examples of such cruise destination promotion associations are Cruise UK, Cruise Europe and the Cruise Indian Ocean Association (CIOA).

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

12

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 and Cape Town.

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 is approximately 50 port of calls per annum. In excess of 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%.

2. Critical steps towards realizing the vision of developing the cruise tourism potential of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands

The core challenges are to:

Stimulate greater awareness of South Africa and the East Coast of Africa as a cruise destination through an aggressive destination cruise tourism promotion agency;

To offer enticing regional itineraries for repositioning and world cruise liners;

To get repositioning and world cruise to spend more time in port by offering distinctive and well organized on-shore excursions and by ensuring that cruise liners are offered safe and clean berthing facilities. This can ideally be achieved by providing luxury cruise liner terminals;

To secure either Durban or Richards Bay as a home port for year round cruise destinations operations. This should involve the construction of at least one modern multi-purpose cruise liner that can double up either as a meeting venue or shopping centre.

3. Progress to date

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal commissioned market research to draw up an initial development strategy and action plan to develop the cruise tourism potential of KwaZulu-Natal and the rest of the East Coast of Africa;

TKZN is an active member of Cruise Indian Ocean Association and participates in its core activities such as attending Seatrade Miami, the most important annual cruise tourism trade exhibition and workshop. It has also encouraged the other key South

13

African coastal provinces namely the Eastern Cape and Western Cape and Eastern African and Indian Ocean countries such as Mozambique and Madagascar to join this association;

It has had proactive discussions with Terry Tui one of the principal founders of Cruise Europe and Cruise Europe to assist in developing a more aggressive, long term strategy for the CIOA.

TKZN has engaged the organizers of Seatrade to convene a Seatrade Africa workshop in Durban to which the leading executives of the major cruise liners will be invited to expose them to the cruise potential of East Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands;

TKZN has developed a brochure to market this region as a cruise tourism destination;

In addition they have a close working relationship with the Ports Authority and provide a visitor information service when cruise liners berth in Richards Bay and Durban

4. Proposed Key Future action

An special breakfast at Indaba 2009 to introduce the CIOA;

To develop a long term cruise tourism strategy for the CIOA

To establish an annual Seatrade Africa workshop and associated educationals for cruise development executives

5. Government support

Suggested South African support initiatives could be:

Together with the other members states of the CIAO to establish an incentive scheme to lure cruise liners to the East Coast of Africa. Australia and New Zealand established a joint scheme of this nature and have as a result successfully developed Australasia as an important new cruise destination.

Funding support and diplomatic intervention to secure a Seatrade Africa workshop which could be hosted by South Africa

Supporting the CIAO financially and in terms of intellectual capital in its endeavors to develop a long term cruise tourism development strategy for the Indian.

14

6. Key stakeholders that should be involved in this initiative

Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

Department of Transport

National Ports

South African Tourism

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal

East Cape Tourism Board

Cape Town Routes Unlimited

Durban Africa

Tourism Cape Town

Nelson Mandela Metro

Tourism Buffalo City

Umhlathuzi Local Municipality

SATSA

TBCSA

Key inbound operators (brokers and ground handlers) good examples being:

Starlight Cruises

Springbok Atlas

Thompsons

Tourvest

Abercrombie and Kent

Mega Tours

--o0o--

James Seymour

General Manager: TIS

25 January 2009

References and suggested further reading15

Cruise Indian Ocean Association Constitution.

Seymour, J. (2007). Developing the Cruise Tourism Potential of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. A paper presented to Cruise Shipping Opportunities and Challenges: markets, technologies and local development”, Conference, Naples, Italy, 4-6 October 2007. Durban: Tourism KwaZulu-Natal.

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal. (2003). Developing The KwaZulu-Natal Cruise Tourism.Industry. Durban: Tourism KwaZulu-Natal.Industry

16