THE Philippines is eager to ride the wave of Asia’s burgeoning cruise tourism and is looking at ways to secure port calls by cruise lines that sail Asian waters.
The Department of Tourism (DoT) is currently in talks with several major cruise operators to make the Philippines their regular port of call or even homeport, according to a source within the bureau.
According to the same source, a number of cruise ships already include calls on Manila, Boracay, Palawan and Cebu in their itineraries. These are, however, only “one-off” calls.
Warner Andrada, division chief for product development, DoT, said a “very significant” development in the country’s cruise tourism ambition would be the forthcoming maiden voyages to the Philippines of two Star Cruises ships from China.
Superstar Gemini, chartered from Xiamen by Xiamen CND International Travel for 1,500 passengers, will call on the ports of Manila and Boracay next month. Come November,Superstar Aquarius, with 1,500 travellers from Shanghai, will call on Hong Kong, Manila and Boracay before arriving at its new homeport in Malaysia’s Kota Kinabalu.
Andrada said these maiden calls would be “crucial” in the formation of positive impressions of the Philippines among the passengers, most of whom would be Chinese nationals, and enable the destination to get a share of the huge Chinese outbound market.
The DoT will soon commission a study looking into the direction that the Philippine cruise sector can take, given the current health of the Asian regional cruise market and demand for related products and services. Part of the three-month study is a “short-term plan on how the private sector can develop luxury cruise products”, according to the terms of reference published in the NTO’s bidding paper.
“While the country boasts the world’s best beaches and vistas, infrastructure like cruise terminals, navigation systems, port of call jetties, waste management and land-based facilities needs to be further improved,” the DoT admitted in the same terms of reference.
“If you look at the trend now, cruising is moving into Asia from Europe and the Caribbean. But many ships don’t pass by the Philippines so we are trying to get them,” said Andrada.
The DoT will continue participating in cruise exhibitions such as those in Miami and Singapore to woo cruise operators.
