Carnival ships to end Melbourne calls over tax hike
Carnival Corp will ditch port calls in Melbourne over ‘unreasonable’ cruise ship tax rises, it said.
Princess Cruises and Cunard will no longer call in Melbourne from 2025.
Ports Victoria announced a tax hike of 15% from $28.50 per passenger to $32.
The fee increase is effective from 1 January.
Minister for Ports and Freight Melissa Horne said the tax hike would fund maintenance to the historic Station Pier.
“We love Melbourne and so do our local, interstate, and international guests,” said Carnival’s chief strategy officer Teresa Lloyd.
The cruise company has called on the Victoria state government to reconsider.
“We want to be in Melbourne and remain open to finding a long-term solution together with Ports Victoria and the Victorian government.”
According to the latest CLIA data, cruise tourism is worth an economic benefit of $379.5 million annually to Victoria.
Ports Victoria says it is the first increase in nearly three years.
Related News Stories: Cruise ship calls to Noumea could be cancelled due to widespread ... Carnival says goodbye to Melbourne - Page 2 - Cruise Critic Please explain why the Victoria stop is so late at night : r/Cruise Quite major changes for calls to Santorini. - Greece Ports - Cruise ... Carnival & Cunard cancel Melbourne port stops over tax hike ... Cruises pull out of Melbourne after tax hike Cunard and Princess will skip Melbourne calls because of port fee ... Major cruise company to pull some ships from Melbourne ports over ... Princess cruises Passenger COMPLAINT forum Tasmania Cruises - Reserve Your Getaway Cruise
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
[email protected]Dec 02, 2023 12:06 PM
Clearly, this is a stupid decision which will have to be reversed!
Log in to Reply
Dozens fall ill in P&O Cruises ship outbreak
Turkish Airlines flight in emergency landing after pilot dies
Boy falls to death on cruise ship
Unexpected wave rocks cruise ship
Woman dies after going overboard in English Channel