THE INDONESIAN government has decided to meet the challenge of accommodating larger cruise ships at its ports, following growing demand from international cruise liners to call on its shores.
Ministry of Culture and Tourism director general of tourism marketing, Sapta Nirwandar, said: “It takes all stakeholders’ efforts to develop the market, including port authorities. Therefore, we are going to organise an international seminar for the stakeholders on developing cruises in Indonesia, inviting international experts to talk about it next week.”
The ministry’s director of international promotion, Noviendi Makalam, said: “The number of arrivals (on cruises) has grown since 2009, but with many international cruise liners now operating bigger ships – with a capacity of 1,200 and above – Indonesia is facing a challenge to meet the requirements for ports.”
“In Bali, which is the major port of call here, we have four cruise ports, but each is facing its own challenges. Not to mention other ports in Indonesia, which do not even have a dedicated port for cruise ships.”
Makalam said Indonesia received 68,598 passengers through 135 calls in 2009, which rose to 94,228 passengers from 189 calls last year.
Although the number of calls booked for Indonesian ports this year has dropped to 178, the expected number of passengers has swelled to 113,875, as the capacity of ships that are visiting are up. Forward bookings for 2012 show that there will be 215 calls with 137,200 passengers expected to arrive on Indonesian shores.
Nirwandar said: “The number of port of calls is also increasing, in line with the number of destinations. There is a growing interest to call on Probolinggo (East Java), for example, as more travellers want to visit Mount Bromo. Some ships do call there despite the lack of cruise facilities, but it would be better if we can get proper facilities.”
Package prices for cruises, which are now between US$50 and US$100, are also set to increase, according to Nirwandar.
