With the official opening of the Eden Wharf extension comes the news that 22 cruise ships are booked in to pull up alongside this upcoming season. There will be 35 ships next season and everyone is predicting it will grow quickly up to a possible maximum of 80 ships a season.

That's about four a week, disgorging passengers in their hundreds, maybe even a thousand when we have 4000 passenger capacity ships arriving.

The predictions are not pie in the sky or wishful thinking as there is a serious driver.

The Port Authority is taking a firm line saying that if cruise ships want to use the busy prime berths in Sydney they also need to collect some Brownie points for stopping at a regional port such as Eden.

After all there's been some serious millions of dollars spent here and the Port Authority rightly wants to see the facility used to benefit the area.

But how are we placed to take advantage of this potential flood of cruise ship passengers?

Have you ever berthed in a new port, and filled with anticipation about what you might see and experience, wandered off only to be left vaguely disappointed and unsatisfied by the experience?

We need to ensure our visitors enjoy their stay - albeit a brief one - here.

And there's nothing like getting a little help and understanding from some experts.

On Monday, August 12 Cruise Eden is holding a pre-season brief at the Eden Fishermen's Club where Joel Katz, managing director of Cruise Lines Industry Association Australasia will be the guest speaker.

It will be a chance to better understand what will happen and what opportunities exist.

I would suggest that fairly soon a similar event is held in Merimbula to help local businesses understand the opportunities that may exist for them.

There are changes afoot and it will be those who are best informed who will stand the best chance of benefiting.

How are we reaching out to those cruise ship passengers?

While things may not look great for Merimbula's retail sector at the moment, there is a wealth of opportunity just around the corner.

Merimbula needs to take a cohesive approach to embrace the new opportunities that exist.

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