Fantasea Cruises is selling its Whitsundays tourism operation to Cruise Whitsundays expected to be effective late this month, subject to contractual conditions.

Fantasea Cruises will sell its tourism operation to Cruise Whitsundays.

Cruise Whitsundays will take over Fantasea rights to service Hamilton Island, the two Reefworld platforms on Hardy Reef, the vessel Charmer, and the land and marina holdings at Port of Airlie.

The Fantasea brand will continue to operate elsewhere, including Sydney, Palm Beach Ferries and the Townsville Magnetic Island ferry service.
Cruise Whitsundays owners Chris Jacobs and Roger Dold said they were delighted with the acquisition.

‘We have steadily built our presence in the Whitsundays but it has been a struggle to get the business to its full potential. With the additional passengers and services we have acquired from Fantasea, the economics of the business will be stronger and will allow us to focus on growth and innovation in these challenging times.’

‘We can now look forward to a significant partnership with the whole Region. The Whitsundays will be the winner here’ they said.

Glenn Bourke, CEO of Hamilton Island, said the island had been consulted throughout the process and was fully supportive of the move.

Fantasea Cruises has won a number of regional, state and national tourism awards and was the only Queensland operator to win an award at the 2011 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.