That suggests potentially steep year-over-year growth in Asians cruising, since the region chalked up a total of 2.08m Asian passengers in 2015. However, the additional capacity would also accommodate growth from passengers sourced outside the region.
This year 60 ocean cruise ships will sail in Asia, up from 43 in 2013, and 15% more than the 52 in 2015, according to the CLIA study by CHART Management Consultants. Of the ships currently sailing in Asia, 14 are operating year-round while another 12 have extended deployment in the region.
Of the 60 ships, two are mega-size, 15 are large, 21 are mid-sized and 16 are small. Six expedition ships round out the fleet.
The number of cruises offered in the region is rising sharply (43%) to 1,560 sailings scheduled for 2016. The study also tracked a significant increase in the number of ship operating days, from 4,307 in 2013 to 7,918 in 2016.
The volume of cruise destinations is growing, too. Cruising in Asia now spans more than 204 destinations across 17 countries.
The CLIA/CHART study found Japan continues as the leading destination country, with 1,526 port calls in 2016, followed by China (850), South Korea (745), Vietnam (466), Malaysia (422) and Singapore (391).
Sixteen Asian ports will each host more than 100 calls this year, with the top four handling more than 200 calls each.
The most visited port in 2016 will be Jeju Island, South Korea (460 calls, up from 217 last year), closely followed by Shanghai/Baoshan (437, up from 183), Singapore (391, up from 374) and Fukuoka (258).
Within China, leading port Shanghai/Baoshan has almost quadruple the number of calls (437) as the No. 2 Tianjin/Xingang (Beijing) with 124, followed by Hainan/Haikou (70), Xiamen (67), Hainan/Sanya (61), Guangzhou/Nansha (43) and Dalian (29).
Thirty-nine Asian ports are handling turnarounds, with Shanghai and Singapore hosting the vast majority (402 and 329). Keelung (Taiwan), Hong Kong and Tianjin also have a notable volume with 170, 112 and 110 turnarounds scheduled, respectively.
Overnight calls are planned across 42 ports in 2016. Laem Chabang/Bangkok, Thailand, will host the most: 47, followed by Singapore (40), Hong Kong (39), Yangon, Myanmar (34) and Phu My/Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (29).
While interesting, varied destinations are critical to drawing more Asians to cruise, the same holds true for attracting international passengers to the region.
For this reason CLIA president and ceo Cindy D'Aoust thinks the Asian trends study can be an eye-opener for North America's travel agent community.
'This is an entirely new market, with 204 desirable destinations,' she said. Travel agents can offer new itineraries to their experienced cruise clients and entice people who haven't cruised to a region with 'an amazing amount of variety from a cultural perspective.'
In D'Aoust's view, the growth of cruising in Asia gives North American agents a 'tremendous opportunity to continue to build business.'
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