"It's an extremely positive thing for the Mount Maunganui retailers. For some of them, it's their livelihood and the summer just brings so much vibrancy for us all," she said.
Some passengers made the most of local amenities like hairdressers while others just enjoyed wandering the shops chatting to locals, she said. It was not only the passengers the ships bought into town, Mrs Debenham said.
"Pilot Bay is just packed with families that come down and have a picnic and watch the cruise ships go out."
Her store also did well from cruise ship passengers who came in to buy postcards, New Zealand souvenir books and bargain books for reading on the ship. "I actually get quite a lot of crew coming in, and over the last season I've sold a lot of cookbooks to the chefs on the ships."
Dieter Erasmus, general manager of Mount Maunganui restaurant Dixie Browns, also welcomed the news. "It's a big part of our summer business. We get a lot of repeat business even from the crew themselves."
Mount Mainstreet manager Peter Melgren said cruise ships were important to many of the local businesses.
"You get a couple of cruise ships in and you just can't move in the Mount. They certainly do spend and collectively over the season it's in the millions."
Mainstreet Tauranga spokeswoman Sally Cooke said the increase in cruise ship numbers was a fantastic opportunity for downtown retailers.
2014/15 Cruise season
• 84 ships
• 62 days where ships will be in port
• 6 days where two ships will be in port
• 3 days where three ships will be in port
