The French Polynesian Government has imposed limits on the size of cruise ships allowed to dock, banning mega cruise ships with a passenger capacity of more than 3,500, with the rule taking effect on January 1, 2022.
Ships with a capacity of over 2,500 will though be allowed to dock at Tahiti and Moorea and two other ports including Moorea, where there is sufficient infrastructure to accommodate them, but Bora Bora will only receive 1,200 cruise passengers per day, with Bora Bora having been calling for limits for some time, due to the pressure on its local infrastructure caused by cruise passenger traffic.
The French Polynesian Government said, “Both in terms of capacity and size, very large ships are not suited for our destination”.
Although more than one-third of tourism to the Islands of Tahiti comes via cruise ship it is thought that the new regulation will have a limited impact as most cruise ship visitations are small ships including Ponant’s Paul Gauguin and Aranui.
The ships affected will be some transpacific and repositing cruises to and from Australia and the USA, on larger ships.
The French Polynesia president Édouard Fritch has said that the French Polynesian Government will consider possible alternatives for transpacific voyages in exceptional circumstances and are currently in talks with cruise lines.
John Alwyn-Jones Cruise Editor
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