Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell told Members of Parliament the new season will “see some of the world’s top-rated cruise lines this year that will bring in a total of $82 million in revenue.“This will include Azamara Club Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Silver Sea Cruises and Windstar Cruises,” he said.“We will also have a return of the German speaking ship Aidaluna which will visit us on three occasions. Holland America Line will also be deploying the Prinsendam for two cruises.”But the “big announcement for 2013” was the deployment of Norwegian Cruise Line’s Breakaway, which carries 4,000 passengers.“The Breakaway is projected to bring 90,000 cruise passengers to the Island making a financial contribution of $23 million to Bermuda’s economy, including government fees, on-Island expenditures by visitors and cruise members and shore excursions purchased on board the ship,” Mr Crockwell said.“In total, the cruise ship segment is projected to make a financial contribution of $82 million to our economy in 2013.”He noted however, that the total number of passengers this season will be down by 30,000 when compared to last year.“For 2013 we are projecting approximately 340,000 cruise visitors that will sail to Bermuda which will be lower than the approximate 370,000 experienced in 2012,” he said.“The major difference in the lower cruise arrivals is the loss of Holland America Line Veendam in Hamilton. The Veendam, at 17 years of age was having difficulty competing with the newer and larger ships docking at Royal Naval Dockyard,” said the Minister.“We continue to meet with all cruise operators in an attempt to secure small ships for Hamilton and St George’s, recognising that there are increasingly fewer ships capable of docking in those ports.”The line-up includes “regular weekly callers” by way of Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America and the Norwegian Cruise Line, with a projected total of 129 cruise calls during the season.In terms of revenue he noted that “each cruise passenger arriving in Bermuda pays a passenger and a cabin tax projected to be $19 million in 2013”.The figures were released during the Minister’s brief on budget allocations for the Tourism Ministry in the House of Assembly this week.He also noted that the Department of Transportation “is in the process of preparing the fleet for the upcoming season”. And ten new buses are expected to arrive “by the end of July this year”, the first set of new buses purchased since 2009.“This will lower the age of the fleet and improve the overall reliability of buses within the fleet,” said Mr Crockwell. And traffic officers will be stationed at Dockyard when the cruise ships arrive to manage public and private transportation services.Highlighting two new initiatives, he said the Ministry of Tourism will also host a Bermuda Hotel Development and Investment Summit in May.The purpose will be to determine “the policy, infrastructure, economic and legal changes necessary to attract new hotel construction and investment”.Top executives will be invited to host an intensive workshop and “develop both strategic and technical recommendations”.Mr Crockwell concluded: “We are looking forward to that and we invite the Government to stay tuned for the recommendations of that conference.”