The Cruise Down Under association has reported a total of 521 cruise ship calls for the 2008/2009 season and 863,351 passengers and 393,216 crew (days in port), up from 488 calls, 643,045 passengers and 296,308 crew for the 2007/2008 season.

Passenger spending was estimated at $227.7 million, crew spending $38.7 million and cruise line spending $171.6 million, compared to $158.7 million, $26.2 million and $139.9 million, respectively for the previous season.

A total of 38 different ships with a passenger capacity of 42,291 and 19,513 crew called during the 2008/2009 season, compared to 34 ships with a passenger capacity of 38,140 and 17,764 crew in 2007/2008.

Also according to Down Under the number of ports visited went from 26 to 28.