By JONATHON HOWARD
FOR THE past 20 years, Catalina Cruises Noosa has been assisting locals and residents celebrate their special events while cruising the Noosa River, and this week they mark the anniversary.
Owners Beven and Judy Inwood took over what is today Catalina Cruises Noosa and expanded the business to offer Noosa’s largest passenger vessel along with floating party cruises.
While business remains a daily challenge on the river, Mr Inwood said he had built up a lot of great memories and hoped to be serving the community for years to come.
During that time, the couple has survived floods, the global financial crisis and a range of changes to the Noosa River business landscape.
“We were one of the first operators to offer an eco tour on the Noosa River back in the 1990s, and that was well before ‘eco’ was considered popular,” Mr Inwood said.
The couple has also invested large sums of money to ensure their boats are of the highest standards.
“We have two boats… the larger of the two, Catalina… is the largest passenger vessel on the Noosa River,” he said.
Catalina is regularly booked out by loving couples wanting to tie the knot or by other party groups wanting to enjoy the river with entertainment and full bar.
“We’ve had some extremely happy couples take up our services over the years and the letters we receive are a testament to our hard work,” he said.
But running a business on the Noosa River is always challenging and Mr Inwood said the business landscape was suffering from a lack of innovation.
“There’s been a big shift away from innovative ideas and operators, who create new and exciting ideas for visitors and residents, instead a lot of copycat businesses are now squeezing the market,” he said.
“The results mean it’s very hard to make a lot of money on the Noosa River these days and it’s only going to get worse as more operators arrive and they copy what they perceive as successful business models.”
To find out more about Catalina Cruises phone (07) 5474 1005.
