Fremantle to host 2025 Australian Cruise Association’s annual conference with Tourism WA

Fremantle will host a national cruise conference next year attracting ships, industry leaders and delegates. The 2025 Australian Cruise Association’s annual conference will be held in the port city after the event was secured in partnership with Tourism WA, Business Events Perth and the City of Fremantle. Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge said the city was a deserving host, with cruise tourism worth more than $300 million to the State in 2022-23 and Fremantle accounting for $285.5m of that figure. “We are very excited to host this national event and will be maximising the opportunity to network with all the key players in the cruise sector and showcase our city to the world,” she said. ACA chief executive Jill Abel said dozens of delegates were expected to come to the conference. “The committee’s decision to select Fremantle reflects the important commitment by the State Government and the various stakeholders throughout the State to discuss the next phase of growth for Western Australia,” she said. According to Tourism Research Australia, overnight visits to the port city have increased by 9 per cent since pre-COVID levels, with visitor expenditure for day trippers also rising from $60m to $65m. The conference will be held between September 3 and 5 next year. Fremantle council’s own tourism efforts were recognised last month, with results from the city’s destination marketing campaign revealed. In June this year, the city launched its ‘This is Fremantle’ campaign, which it said at the time was its “largest” and “most ambitious” tourism campaign to date. Results presented to council this month revealed more than two million impressions had been achieved across digital platforms since the launch. The This is Fremantle campaign featured four restaurants outside of the city: Coogee Common in the City of Cockburn, and Ethos Deli, La Lune and Young George in the Town of East Fremantle. Ms Fitzhardinge said in June the bid for visitors captured the port city’s “essence”. “We’ve captured the essence of what makes Fremantle so special — the energy, the stories, the flavours — and we know it will inspire people to visit our unique port city,” she said. The city’s destination development strategic plan, last updated in 2023, covers its tourism marketing campaigns, events and activations, visitor servicing, major event attraction and support for cruise shipping. Director of city business Matt Hammond said the city had seen strong results from its latest tourism efforts and more marketing campaigns “with a focus on retail” were planned for later this year. “The latest tourism campaign achieved strong engagement with over one million views of the video content across all channels,” he said.