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Asia Cruise Association formed |
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By Karen Yue
SINGAPORE – Costa Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCC), Silversea Cruises and Star Cruises, have finally signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish Asia’s first cruise association.
After 18 months of discussions, the Asia Cruise Association (ACA) will be registered and based in Singapore. Its aims are to enhance cruise product knowledge among the cruise distribution network, work with the various government agencies and regulatory authorities to develop a cruise-friendly environment in Asia, and encourage high standards of operations.
Cruise associations are not new to these companies, which are members of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and International Cruise Council Australasia (ICCA). RCC Asia-Pacific managing director, Mr Rama Rebbapragada, said: “CLIA and ICCA are well established and have played a key role in the growth of the North American and Australian cruise industries. There is a lot that we can learn from their success and operations.”
Top on the list of to-dos are seminars and accreditation programmes for travel agents and distribution partners, including improving customer engagement techniques and customising cruise products.
With an expected 1.5 million cruise passengers throughput for Asia-Pacific by 2010, more international cruise companies are strengthening their presence in the region by offering Asian itineraries.
Market potential aside, cruise lines seeking to grow the Asian cruise market are faced with difficulties caused by different levels of development at cruise terminals in Asia, which limit the ports vessels can call at.
Silversea Cruises senior vice-president for Asia-Pacific, Mr Steve Odell, said the quality and passenger handling capacity were most important at the main embarkation and disembarkation ports. “The new (cruise) facilities in Shanghai, Singapore, Tianjin and Busan will most certainly help with the expansion of regional business.”
Without multi-nation agreements that reduce the barriers of border crossings across Asia, cruise lines have to contend with time-consuming and complex customs, immigration and quarantine procedures when multiple stops are made. Mr Odell said as the volume of cruise passengers grew in Asia, and the variety of itineraries increased, the need to simplify passenger movement would become more pressing.
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