As East London prepares to host the first of eleven passenger liners to the city this summer, the threadbare tourist options are raising concerns that it may not be plain sailing for cruiseliners in the future.

"It's unthinkable that the fifth largest centre in South Africa is not making more effort to promote the city - particularly to the wealthy sort of tourist who takes cruises," said Yvette Odendal, chairperson of the Eastern Cape Tourist Guide Association.

Local ports spokesperson Terry Taylor estimates that a cruiseliner in port for a day brings between R500000 and R2,5 million into the city's coffers.

"It is a captive market. They take tours, they get into taxis and go shopping and even if they stay aboard they buy curios from the craft market on the dock.

"More needs to be done for the cruiseliners and their passengers and more people need to get involved in making sure the passengers enjoy themselves here," Taylor said.

Today will see the Hanseatic dock at 9.30am with its 125 passengers all wanting to take in the city's sights.

The Hanseatic is the first of a full cruising season in which there will be 11 visits to East London from eight vessels between now and the end of March.

The well-heeled passengers pay up to $10000 (about R60000) for a southern African cruise.

Taylor said the Port Authority had in the past organised and paid for entertainment to welcome the ship and the passengers into port and to give them a good send-off.

"We are not involved in the business of tourism but we feel we must give the passengers something that will make them think well of their time in East London and that is one of the reasons we welcome the vessel with a spray from the tugs and a band at the quayside."

The welcome is seen as one of the city's pluses by the tour operator responsible for most of the vessels calling at East London.

"Nowhere else in South Africa do we get such a welcome and a band to see us off, said Abercrombie and Kent's Amanda Schuddingh.

However, she said passengers want something different from every port they visit and "East London hasn't a lot compared with Durban and Cape Town".

Among the negatives she cited were the shoddy taxis waiting on the quay for visitors.

"You have these scruffy taxi drivers in broken cars smoking and expecting people from a five-star liner to want to get into their cabs."

Another of the difficulties the tour organisers have with the city is the fact that tour buses have to be brought up from Durban or Port Elizabeth to transport their passengers. "It is a time-consuming and very expensive exercise."

The deterioration of a number of the points on the tour is another cause for concern she said, including the Lock Street Gaol which used to have some attractive shops but was now "just awful".

The access to the women's prison and the gallows has been restricted as well.
Schuddingh said there were also not enough tour guides available in the city.

"There used to be a lot but many of them have not renewed their registration and our big problem is finding enough German-speaking guides when we come to port," she added.

Taylor suggested that a group be formed to look at how the city could improve on hosting cruiseliners.

He also raised the possibility of building a passenger terminal as part of the harbour's new development.

"If the container berth gets the go-ahead on the West Bank, we have space for a passenger liner terminal on the East Bank and can link it to the Orient Beach, giving the passengers access to the Esplanade," he said.