By
Alex Smith |
The islands of French Polynesia are scheduled to receive more than 1,100 calls from cruise ships in 2022, according to forecasts provided by regional cruise association Tahiti Cruise Club to its members at its first annual general meeting.
Vessels will depart from the capital city of Papeete on the island of Tahiti, offering a total of 140 roundtrip cruises to 36 of the islands in French Polynesia. The ships will carry between 100 and 2,000 passengers each.
Companies that have already resumed regular sailing or are planning to do so are Windstar Cruises with Star Breeze; Lindblad Expeditions with Orion National Geographic, Oceania Cruises with Regatta and Insignia; and Norwegian Cruise Line with Norwegian Spirit. Less frequent sailings are expected from Silversea, Princess Cruises, AIDA Cruises, Swan Hellenic, Royal Caribbean International, Viking and Holland America Line. Variety Cruises will also be starting operations in French Polynesia for the first time.
Mixed cargo and cruise ship Aranui, which sailed in the islands throughout 2020 and 2021, will continue her sailings in 2022. Paul Gauguin and Windstar Cruises’ Wind Spirit will also continue sailing the itineraries they have operated for the past two years.
“Even if the forecast occupancy rates are below the 2019 figures, all the islands, their population, tourism stakeholders and authorities are delighted and impatient to be able to interact again with the companies, the crew members and passengers,” said Jean-Marc Mocellin, general manager of destination marketing organisation Tahiti Tourisme. “Resilience in the restart of the industry recovery is well underway in French Polynesia. We believe in this economic model, which has been ours for the past 10 years for the cruise industry.”
Tahiti Cruise Club has also announced that it will attend the next edition of Seatrade Cruise Global, joining other tourism organisations in the South Pacific Cruise Alliance (SPCA) on one booth. These will include representatives from American Samoa, the Cook Islands, the Kingdom of Tonga, the Pitcairn Islands, Samoa and the Pacific Tourism Organisation. Among the priorities of the region’s associations will be the development of the expedition and luxury cruise sectors.
"With a growing interconnection between the main ports of Auckland, Nadi and Papeete, we are ideally positioned between the source markets of North America and Australia, or South America and Asia,” said Bud Gilroy, president of the Tahiti Cruise Club and chairman of the SPCA. “We are going to the next Seatrade Cruise Global with confidence and determination. We have demonstrated our reliability and commitment to an industry known to be resilient. We will be at the side of the operators to prepare an exciting, stimulating decade, for the benefit of our populations and our economic players.”