Among the first of Tauranga City Council's tasks of the New Year is to time table the discussion about a new, permanent i-Site in Mount Maunganui.

There is a proposal to have an i-Site at or near the Port of Tauranga to cater for the continuing growth in the cruise ship passengers visiting the port.

Tourism Bay of Plenty CEO Rhys Arrowsmith outside the I-port at its 2013 opening. File photo.

This season, around 84 ships are expected to bring 166,700 passengers with them.

This is a 15 per cent increase on the number of passengers that visited last season. It's estimated that visitors will spend around $40.5 million – up 6.3 per cent on last season's figures.

'We are aware the numbers are going to grow considerably over the next five years,” says Tauranga City Council mayor Stuart Crosby.

'The same number of vessels roughly, but they are going to be larger.”

The current I-port that marshals the cruise ship passengers, providing information about attractions available in the wider Bay of Plenty, and arranging connections with local operators, consists of two containers and a tent-like roof, and can only be used for about another year.

'They have a couple of containers and a roof which probably has one more year left in it with a bit of a do up, so they are staring to talk to us about a more permanent piece of infrastructure to service the cruise ship industry as well as the more usual visitor industry,” says Stuart.

Tourism Bay of Plenty has opened the discussions. The priority is the I-port adjacent or within the port. A second priority is whether there will be some sort of information centre as part of the Phoenix car park redevelopment.

'We have probably at best 12 months to firm up some ideas, because if there is to be a new one constructed, it will have to get underway within a 12 month period for the 2017/18 cruise ship season,” says Stuart.

'It will be a permanent building. We will be having discussions with the port about access. It's about making sure we get the most of the opportunity from the cruise ship industry, and if you don't have proper facilities you don't maximise the opportunity.”

A possible location is at Coronation Park, somewhere along the port border.

While the Port of Tauranga's $50 million capital dredging programme, currently underway, is opening the port to large passenger ships, including the newest Royal Caribbean cruise ship the 348 metre long, 167,800 tonne Ovation of the Seas, due to be launched in Germany this April and currently scheduled to make a Tauranga port call during the 2016/17 season.

Ovation of the Seas will be the largest cruise liner ever to visit New Zealand and carries 4900 passengers and 1300 crew - the equivalent of 12 Airbus A380s arriving at the same time.

In contrast the next cruise ship expected at the port is the 4,200tonne expedition ship Caledonian Sky on Saturday.

Caledonian Sky operates in the 'niche luxury cruise market” whose ticket price for the 100 passengers on board includes wine at lunch and dinner, a high-brow guest speaker programme and in-depth excursions.