Bushfires: Princess to the rescue of Kangaroo Island

The arrival of the first cruise ship on Kangaroo Island since the horrific fires has provided a welcome shot in the arm for tourism.

Sun Princess guests come ashore. Picture: John Montesi

For tourism operators on fire-­ravaged Kangaroo Island, the ­arrival on Sunday morning of the first cruise ship since the horrific fires provided a welcome shot in the arm for a struggling and vulnerable local economy.

As one small business owner in the ferry town of Penneshaw on the island’s unburnt eastern end put it: “If we’re not careful, the fires will get the west of the island and the banks will get the east.”

While fires have devastated almost all of the western half of the island, the largely fire-free eastern end of the island is sharing in the west’s economic woes, with small business turnover down more than 65 per cent in Penneshaw.

Kangaroo Islander Chris Laurie sheltered on a beach as fire hit his house. Picture: John Montesi

Princess Cruises’ Sun Princess brought a very welcome 2000 tourists to the island for the day, enabling them to visit famous tourist attractions such as Seal Bay and the island’s wildlife park and raptor domain.

They were welcomed by South Australian Premier Steven Marshall and federal Trade Minister Simon Birmingham as the state government launched its “Book Them Out” campaign to encourage Australians to holiday on Kangaroo Island and in the Adelaide Hills, and the Morrison government announced a $76m tourism package in response to the economic impact of the fires.

Kangaroo Island Wool saleswoman Lucy McNaught was among many delighted locals selling their wares to tourists at a market at Penneshaw on Sunday.

The business is run as a co-­operative, selling clothing manufactured in Australia using wool from more than 20 Kangaroo ­Island farms. Several co-operative members are among dozens of island farmers who have collectively lost tens of thousands of sheep.

Lucy McNaught sells wool products to a cruise passenger. Picture: John Montesi

Ms McNaught said the market provided a great opportunity to ­regain customers after the fires.

“We’ve lost five shops that stocked our products, including Flinders Chase (National Park) and Southern Ocean Lodge. ­Usually they’d all be ordering now,” she said.

Ms McNaught also encouraged people to buy products online at www.kangarooislandwool.com.

Perth sisters Faye Betts, 91, and Barbara Hill, 83, were among many happy cruise ship passengers to visit the island.

“I bought two beautiful jumpers, one a waistcoat and the other a lovely high-necked jumper. It’s beautiful,” Ms Betts said.

“You can’t help enough. Everybody on the ship wants to help.”

Mr Marshall congratulated the South Australian Tourism Commission on the “Book Them Out” campaign, advertisements for which were filmed on Kangaroo Island.

“This is a very important campaign letting the world know that Kangaroo Island is open for business,” he said.

“It’s open. We want to encourage people from South Australia, from interstate and from overseas to book accommodation, book trips on to Kangaroo Island.

“We’ve got more than 2500sq km of pristine island completely and utterly untouched.

“Now is the time for the people of South Australia, the people of Australia, to be backing our friends here on Kangaroo Island and in the Adelaide Hills.

“We need their help to make sure that we can minimise the ­effects, the economic effects, of the devastating bushfires which have hit our state.”

Sun Princess is currently on a 13-night cruise from its present home port of Fremantle, with the majority of guests on board residents of Western Australia.

An earlier cruise to Kangaroo Island had been diverted to Port Lincoln at the height of the bushfire emergency.

The cruising tour industry has become a significant contributor to Kangaroo Island's economy over the past decade.

Figures from Cruise Lines International Association showed direct expenditure by passengers, crew and cruise lines on Kangaroo Island in 2018-19 was $10.2m.

Passenger spending alone was $9.8m, generated from the visits of 26 ships that year.

The flow-on benefits from the cruise ship industry on the island’s economy are estimated to be much greater.

For the 2019-20 season, 26 cruise ship were scheduled to visit the island with a capacity of 54,437 passengers and crew, up from three cruise ships in 2012.

Next season — 2020-21 — there are 35 scheduled cruise ship visits to Kangaroo Island with a combined capacity of 67,838 ­passengers and crew.