WHILE Asia-Pacific has seen the rapid development of several cruise hubs in recent years, the various national bodies must pledge greater support in bolstering port infrastructure, in addition to rolling out more attractions in their respective cities to entice larger cruise ships to berth.
Kelvin Tan, regional director, Asia-Pacific, Royal Caribbean Cruises, estimates that some 60 per cent of Asian ports still do not meet the physical requirements of these mega cruise ships.
“Large ships come with their (physical) challenges, especially in Asia where cruising is still very new,” he said. “Furthermore, a destination needs to offer variety to cruise passengers, especially when guests number over a thousand. The greater the variety of local attractions, the better visitors and congestion could be spread out (on shore).”
To attract larger cruise ships, Probolinggo – the Indonesian port town offering access to Mount Bromo – has been earmarked for development to enhance cruise itineraries from Singapore to Bali, revealed Noviendi Makalam, director of international promotion, Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy.
Probolinggo will soon be able to berth bigger cruise ships once expansion works are completed in 2014.
Meanwhile, for operators of smaller cruise ships, port infrastructure is less of an issue.
Steve McLaughlin, business development manager, Asia Pacific, Orion Expeditions, said: “Infrastructure, for us, is not so important because we have such small numbers, and we are almost self-sufficient since we use zodiacs for shore excursions… That said, embarkation and disembarkation ports still need decent air uplift, so we use Singapore and Bali as our key destinations in Asia.”
