JUST 100 days and the seemingly impossible becomes possible.
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It was last year when the Illawarra Mercury broke the news the first ever cruise ship was bound for Port Kembla.
Before then a lot of people thought it not possible or probable.
Wollongong councilor and Destination Wollongong board member Leigh Colacino (pictured on the right) never had a doubt.
It was his dream and he chased it with the passion and persistence he is renowned for.
When Cr Colacino got Gavin Smith on board – pun intended – the dream was always going to become a reality.
Back then Mr Smith (pictured left) was the regional vice president of Royal Caribbean.
These days Mr Smith is the senior vice president of Royal Caribbean International, second-in-charge of the largest cruise line in the world.
Mr Smith will be in Wollongong on Friday, July 22, to launch the 100-day countdown for the arrival of the first ever cruise liner to dock at Port Kembla.
Roughly 2500 passengers and 700 staff will be on board Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas when it docks on October 30.
In just that one day an anticipated $900,000 will be injected into the local economy.
What is likely is this one visit will unlock the Illawarra region to a sea of opportunity.
It’s hoped and expected many more cruise ships will follow in the wake of the Radiance of the Seas.
“Radiance of the Seas coming in for her maiden voyage is a significant event, but it’s only the start of something that could be truly game changing for Wollongong,” Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh told the Mercury this week.
“The global cruise industry is growing over 10 per cent per annum and it has grown by 10 per cent per annum for the last 10 years.
“There is no more capacity in Sydney Harbour to be able to fulfill that growth.
“There’s physically nowhere for the ships to park to fulfill that growth and what we have here in Wollongong is a tremendous opportunity to facilitate growth of a segment that can’t be done anywhere else.”
On October 30, over three million of Royal Caribbean’s Facebook fans will see the Radiance of the Seas dock in Wollongong.
It will see the city of steel has so much more to offer as a tourism destination.
Yes indeed, a ship will provide a landmark moment for tourism in this region.