MEMPHIS, TN (AP) — The American Queen riverboat will spend more time in Memphis in 2016 as demand rises for overnight cruises on the lower Mississippi River.
Sales of next year's cruises are up 200 percent over this time last year, and American Queen operators say more Memphis-New Orleans trips are a big reason, The Commercial Appeal’s Wayne Risher reported.
"The customers are telling us where they want us to be, and they want us to be on the lower Mississippi," said Ted Sykes, president of American Queen Steamboat Co.
The company's high expectations for 2016 come as it basks in the limelight of a Conde Nast Traveler Best Cruise Lines Readers' Choice Award. Readers of the travel publication ranked the American Queen No. 6 in river cruises, the only American company honored in that category, the newspaper reported.
The company is based in Memphis because city government helped finance the 436-passenger paddle-wheeler's purchase and return to service in 2012. The company employs about 225 people, including about 50 in the head office.
The Riverfront Development Corp., which operates docking facilities at Beale Street Landing, is seeing more interest in Memphis from other operators as well, RDC president Benny Lendermon said.
American Cruise Lines docks the Queen of the Mississippi and American Eagle in Memphis, and Viking River Cruises and the Delta Queen want to enter the market in 2017 with emphasis on lower Mississippi cruises, Lendermon said.
"Everybody believes there's this bottomless pit of people who will take that cruise," Lendermon said.
Beale Street Landing is a major contributor to downtown hotel bookings, generating about 12,000 room nights this year, Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau president Kevin Kane said. The $43 million landing, which includes a restaurant, was opened last year to provide docking for cruise vessels.
The American Queen began or ended 18 cruises in Memphis in 2014 and will hit 24 this year by December. That will rise to 28 next year, not counting two layovers by cruises that travel the length of the river between New Orleans and St. Paul, Minnesota.
After the boat winters in New Orleans, the first cruise into Memphis is scheduled to arrive March 7, two weeks earlier than last March.
