Subscribe to RSSCruise Ship Levy Reduced
The government is reducing the cruise ship levy it imposes to stimulate the tourist industry.
It’s announced a reduction of almost $5 per passenger in the marine safety charge paid by cruise ships.
The charge will decrease from $8.29 to $3.30 per passenger port call from 1 October this year.
Cruise ships get a better deal
Transport minister Steven Joyce says this is possible because Maritime NZ has collected more money than anticipated, or required, from the industry .
When the charge was set in August 2008 it was anticipated that it would generate $2 million in revenue from the Cruise sector each year to support Maritime NZ’s safety, regulatory and monitoring functions.
However, the increase in ships visiting since that time has led to a much higher” collection of revenue of around $3.8 million for 2009/10
.A wider “value for money” review of Maritime NZ, which includes a full review of marine safety charges, will begin next month.
2 Comments
I don’t get it. So more ships visited, obviously not deterred by the charge. Why not plow it back into better service? I guess that is just not their way of thinking about economics.
Weird. And a cruise ship terminal is too costly? Weird. Auckland could really put on such a good show to tourists coming in on cruise ships. Benefiting Auckland in job creation and so many ways.