The second visit by the first cruise ship to ever visit Port Kembla will see up to 2400 passengers catch a shuttle bus into the arts precinct where they will be handed a flyer with discounts from many businesses such as H&M, Lowes, Charli & Kate and Grill’d.

Lube Markovski, of Grill’d, loves what #cruisewollongong chair Councillor Leigh Colacino, Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh and others are doing to create a new industry already benefiting the Illawarra economy to the tune of at least around $800,000 every cruise ship visit.

Mr Markovski said the pride displayed by over 500 volunteer welcomers over the last 15 months also showed how proud the community is of the city and what a friendly place we are to visit. He said the business community could further enhance that image.

“At Grill’d we are giving away free chips. Everyone off the boat who buys a burger gets free chips,” he said.

“We are looking forward to it. We actually do really well with the cruise ship visits. I think it is important to be involved in everything that happens in Wollongong. This is a big part of us helping to activate the CBD and getting people into the city centre. We know cruise visitors spend. This is an opportunity that comes around. The fact they drop the passengers off into the town centre where IPAC is really helps. We’ve put extra staff on Monday.”

Mr Markovski’s daughter Melissa Gorgievski at Charli & Kate Hair Company also sees the advantage for the image of the city of being so inviting to first time visitors from many parts of Australia and the world. “We are doing 10 per cent off major brands Kerastase and kevin.murphy and we are doing 20 per cent off GHD,” she said.

Mr Markovski has also invited the Wigan players to dinner at Grill’d on the Wednesday night before their historic English Super League match against Hull FC on February 10.

Cr Colacino said it was fantastic to see the business community embrace the creation of a new industry and his next task is to keep looking into how Port Kembla can become a turnaround port.

Radiance of the Seas will always have the honour of making the maiden voyage by a cruise ship to Wollongong on October 30, 2016.

The Royal Caribbean ship can carry more then 2400 passengers and on Monday January 29 makes its second visit to Port Kembla.

The timing is similar to the original visit. The only difference is passengers will be shuttled to the Wollongong Arts Precinct where a Makers Market will welcome them along with 159 volunteer ambassadors helping with directions and information.