AS CRUISES continue to take off in Asia in an unprecedented way, the lack of infrastructural support will prove to be a stumbling factor for optimal growth, according to Christina Siaw, CEO of Singapore Cruise Centre.
A panelist the PATA Singapore Chapter seminar held yesterday at Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore to discuss the impact of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) on regional tourism, Siaw said cruising in Asia is a “very small proportion” of the region’s population, with just 1.3 million cruise passengers in Asia per year, compared to the total of 22 million globally.
She told TTG Asia e-Daily: “The growth potential of cruises here is huge. While the projection is that it will grow up to four million by 2020, I think it can rise by a lot more to 10 million.”
While implementation of the AEC 2015 is currently underway, Siaw pointed out that its implications for the cruise industry are minimal due to the existing curb on free flow of foreign capital for cruise infrastructure building.
“Building cruise terminals is not a priority for developing countries because they have other more pressing bread-and-butter issues to deal with, such as the roads and logistics in their countries,” she said.
“That is when (foreign investors) can come in, but there is no free flow of capital, which is a problem.
“For example, it is not so easy for a Singapore company to build a cruise company in the Indonesia or Philippines. It must be a joint venture with (locals) holding a majority stake.”
Earlier this week at the Singapore Tourism Industry Conference, Singapore Tourism Board’s chief executive Lionel Yeo said cruises are expected to experience “siginificant growth” this year, with five to eight per cent compounded growth rate in passenger throughput.
While Singapore is able to thrive on the booming cruise industry, Siaw said that the archipelago nations Indonesia and Philippines would be able to benefit especially if foreign direct investment restrictions come down.
She said: “It is simple reasoning – without the infrastructure, the ships are not going to come into their countries.”
