The Honorable Minister with the Director General, Mr. Noah Patrick Kouback, the Senior Cruise Officer, Ms. Brenda Andre, and the Carnival Cruises Limited team led by Ms. Sandy Olson and Mr. Michael Mihajlov, Brisbane, 4 September 2026.
Tuesday, 08th September 2026, Port-Vila, Vanuatu: The Minister of Trade and Commerce, the Honorable Robson Iavro, led a Vanuatu delegation to the 2026 Australian Cruise Association (ACA) 28th Conference and Annual General Meeting, held in Brisbane, from 2 to 4 September 2026 under the theme “Building Value Beyond the Berth”.
The Minister was accompanied by the Director General of the Ministry of Trade and Commerce, Mr. Noah Patrick Kouback, the Director of the Department of Tourism, Mr. Paul Pio and the Senior Cruise Officer, Ms. Brenda Andre.
The Department of Tourism attended the conference and the Annual General Meeting in its capacity as a member of the Association.
Why Vanuatu is a member of the ACA
The Australian Cruise Association (ACA) is the peak industry body for cruise tourism in Australia and the South Pacific. Its membership brings together the cruise lines, ports, terminal operators, destinations and shore excursion operators that shape where cruise ships sail in this part of the world. Vanuatu is one of only three Pacific Island members of the Association, alongside Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
Membership gives Vanuatu a seat at the table where regional deployment, itinerary planning and port readiness are discussed, and direct access to the decision makers of the major cruise lines. For a destination of Vanuatu’s size that access is the most cost-effective form of market representation available: in three days the Department can meet, in one place, the companies that decide where ships sail in this region, the ports that compete with Vanuatu for their calls and the operators who build the shore experiences those ships sell.
The conference drew a record 170 delegates from across the cruise sector, the largest attendance in the Association’s history. The cruise lines and brands represented on the programme included Royal Caribbean International, Carnival, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, Viking and Ponant, together with the Cruise Lines International Association, the global peak body for cruising, whose President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Charles “Bud” Darr, delivered the State of the Industry address.
They were joined by Australian and New Zealand port authorities and terminal operators, Tourism Australia, the Queensland Government, the New Zealand Cruise Association and the shore excursion, port services and destination companies that support cruise operations across the region.
Global cruise demand is at a record high, with 37.2 million ocean-going passengers carried in 2025 and volumes forecast to continue growing through the decade. Speakers were consistent on one point of direct relevance to Vanuatu: the quality of the guest experience ashore — the guide, the welcome, safety, ease of access and the standard of shore excursions — is now the principal factor determining where cruise lines choose to send their ships.
The conference also heard that the way travelers discover destinations has changed, with a growing share beginning their planning through artificial intelligence rather than conventional search and that the value a destination earns from cruise is determined by what visitors experience and spend ashore and not simply by the number of ships that call. Both findings will inform the Department of Tourism’s work on product development, shore excursion quality and digital presence.
A shifting regional picture
The conference also confirmed a shift in cruise deployment across this part of the world. Australia has fewer ships deployed this season than last, and cruise visitation to New Zealand has fallen sharply over the past year, while the major lines are scheduling substantially more calls into the South Pacific than into New Zealand. Cruise ships are mobile assets, and they are moving towards the islands.
Vanuatu is well placed in that shift. The country already holds 159 large cruise ship calls confirmed for 2027 across four ports — Mystery Island, Port Vila, Lelepa Island and Luganville — together with 37 expedition cruise calls at twelve ports spread across all six provinces, four in five of them outside Port Vila and Luganville. Cruise remains Vanuatu’s largest source of visitors by volume, and the Department of Tourism’s work is now directed at ensuring that the ports, the products and the communities are ready to receive them.
Meetings with the cruise lines
In the margins of the conference the Minister led bilateral meetings with two of the major cruise lines serving Vanuatu — Carnival Cruises Limited and Royal Caribbean International — held at the Brisbane Marriott Hotel on Friday 4 September.
The meeting with Royal Caribbean International, led by Mr. Josh Dolgoy, Head of Government Relations Oceania, focused on the continued progress of the Royal Beach Club Lelepa project and on the partnership between the company and the Government. Preparations for the groundbreaking of the project are advancing, and the ceremony is expected to be held in Vanuatu later this year. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to working closely together and to ensuring that the project delivers employment, local supply opportunities and lasting benefit to the communities of Lelepa and to the wider economy.
The meeting with Carnival Cruises Limited, represented by Ms. Sandy Olson and Mr. Michael Mihajlov, reviewed the company’s deployment in the region and its long-standing community work in Vanuatu, which includes its partnership with ProMedical, first aid training for tour operators, the provision of equipment in support of accommodation providers in the outer islands, and its support for Vanuatu beach volleyball. Carnival reaffirmed its commitment to Vanuatu, to its relationship with the Government and to supporting the continued growth of the destination.
“Vanuatu’s relationship with the cruise industry is a partnership, and partnerships are built face to face. Our presence in Brisbane allowed us to speak directly with the companies that bring visitors to our shores, to hear what they need from us, and to make clear what we expect in return. The Government is committed to increasing the number of cruise calls to Vanuatu and equally committed to making sure that our communities and our operators see the benefit of every ship that arrives,” said the Honorable Robson Iavro, Minister of Trade and Commerce.
“Our membership of the Association keeps Vanuatu at the front of every conversation about where cruise in this region is heading. We see the changes in deployment and in traveler behavior as they happen”. said Mr. Paul Pio, Director of the Department of Tourism.