The Eastern Cape city of Nelson Mandela Bay has set its sights on growing its cruising sector and attracting more international liners to its shores.

To that end, the Nelson Mandela Bay Cruise Ship Steering Committee has developed a Nelson Mandela Bay Cruise Strategy to ensure the city becomes a top destination of choice for cruise lines visiting South Africa and for it to see growth in the cruise line industry.

Nelson Mandela Bay is seen as the top destination for cruise ships visiting Southern Africa due to its proximity to the Eastern Cape safari offerings such as Addo Elephant National Park, and the numerous private game reserves around the city. 

The strategy has identified priority action areas to help the city reach its growth potential in the cruise industry. These include:

• Attracting more cruise lines to the city.
• Educating the industry on the importance of the cruise industry as well as how it operates.
• Ensuring that quality services, products and experiences are provided to visiting cruise lines and passengers.
• Encouraging investment in new products, experiences and destination infrastructure.
• Maximising opportunities for cruise liners and passengers to spend money in the city and reduce leakage.
• Increasing regional dispersal from cruise passengers when they visit.
• Promoting business tourism opportunities and incentivising cruise ships to support the development of SMME opportunities.

The Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Agriculture (EDTA) in partnership with Transnet, the private sector and other key role players, are collaborating on this strategy, which focuses on, among others, maximising the local economic opportunities through encouraging investment in infrastructure and enhancing visitor experiences.

The strategy also focuses on how the city can leverage marketing partnerships with the tourism trade and other destination marketing organisations/cities that operate in this market, with South African Tourism as a key role player.

Economic impact 

According to Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, in the 2016/2017 season 18 passenger liners visited its shores, and 20 visited for the 2017/18 cruise season. 

The last docking for this season was the MS Queen Elizabeth, which brought 2 547 passengers.

The 2018/19 season saw similar number of dockings, with the addition of the Japan Grace Peace Boat. The Peace Boat had the longest stay on its whole itinerary with a total of three nights in port. 

The estimated total spend in Nelson Mandela Bay for the 2018/2019 season was in excess of R30 million (€1.7m). 

Indications were that the 2019/2020 season would have had a dramatic increase to a total of 34 cruise line dockings but the season was cut short amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

More than 35 dockings are expected for the 2022/2023 season with approximately 45 000 passengers visiting the Bay. Although final figures will only be available after the season, these dockings will have an estimated economic benefit of over R55m (€3.2m) to the economy.