Costa Cruises, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) are joining forces in a second tripartite partnership to grow the fly-cruise market in Asia.
The three-year partnership will see joint-marketing initiatives rolled out in different countries where Costa operates worldwide, and includes creating attractive packages for Costa’s guests. It is expected to bring in over 100,000 international fly-cruise visitors to Singapore over three years.
Singapore is a popular gateway to the South-east Asian region for cruise visitors, welcoming 421 ship calls and logged a passenger throughput of nearly 1.4 million in 2017, an increase of three per cent and 17 per cent respectively over 2016 figures.
Costa Cruises currently bases four ships out of its 14 total fleet in Asia year round. The 3,470-pax Costa Fortuna, currently deployed in the Far East, will be homeported at Singapore from mid November 2018 to March 2019.
“We are thrilled to strengthen the opportunity to further develop such an exotic destination like Singapore, where Costa has a longstanding presence and which offer a big potential for the cruise holiday market thanks also to the presence of the international Changi Airport,” said Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises.
Yap Chin Siang, assistant chief executive, policy & planning group of STB, added: “This latest collaboration will leverage Costa’s strong brand in key longhaul markets in Europe to further diversify our cruise visitor source markets, and strengthen Singapore’s position as the region’s homeport of choice.”
Likewise, Changi Airport Group’s managing director for air hub development, Lim Ching Kiat, said that the tripartite partnership “will provide greater opportunity to grow the fly-cruise segment”, banking on Singapore’s cruise hub status in the region and Changi Airport’s strong air connectivity to more than 400 cities worldwide.
