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Cruise ship industry becoming an anchor of NMB economy

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The cruise ship industry is becoming one of the anchors of the Nelson Mandela Bay economic growth.

This has been confirmed by the consistent growth of cruise liners that have docked in our shores in the past and current cruiseliner season.

Since November 2024, 30 cruise liners have docked in our shores with a total of 45 000 passengers and 22 000 crew members with R74 million estimated investment value.

According to the Acting Executive Director for Economic Development, Tourism and Agriculture Directorate, Mpho Pebane, the behind the scenes work that has been done by the directorate and the Tourism industry has paid off.

“We have a dedicated cruise line season that we prepare for working with the industry. A lot of marketing of this season is done to place Nelson Mandela Bay as a destination of choice”.

“We have also developed and improved on product offerings that are suitable for the cruise liner clientele, a move that has actually done wonders for us. This includes township experiences that are unique only to Nelson Mandela Bay. The embrace and protection that our cruise ship tourists get from our townships has also made a difference. Our people are beginning to see the benefits of having these tourists coming into their neighbourhoods,” said Pebane.

Nelson Mandela Bay is not far from Safari experience establishments, an offering that is popular with the cruise line clientele.

Pebane said the geographical positioning of Nelson Mandela Bay has put the metro at an advantage.

“We are between Durban and Cape Town and the rerouting of cruise liners due to global events affecting the sea movement has also came out to be a benefit to the metro,” he added.

The past cruise liner season of 2022/23 saw 35 liners docking in the metro with 41000 passengers and 17000 crew members. The estimated value of investment was also above R70 million.

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NMB Communications

Media Communications at Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality Communications Department is responsible for communicating pertinent Municipal news from Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch. Municipality Contact Details. See more articles by NMB Communication's.