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New Asian destinations needed to sustain cruise growth

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More destinations can be offered when Asians become familiar with cruises that are longer than the current four or five days
The well-known Asian destinations have benefited from the growth of cruising for years, but new destinations and improved port infrastructure are needed to sustain the market growth, industry players said Wednesday.

The booming Asian market in 2015 saw an influx of 31 cruise lines and 5,500 port calls, according to Kim Eui-keun, professor at Jeju International University and chairman of Cruise Industry Association of Jeju.

Singapore, for example, saw direct expenditure of over $1bn by cruise lines, passengers and crew in 2014. In South Korea’s Jeju, 500 calls with 1m passengers brought revenue of $487.3m in 2016, and these figures are projected to rise to 700 calls with 1.5m passengers bringing revenue of $730.4m in 2017.

In 2015, Asia’s cruise market, including China, Japan and South Korea, registered 2.08m ocean-going cruise passengers, a 24% increase from 2014, according to Cruise Lines International Association's Asia Cruise Trends study. This year, Asia is expected to record over 3m cruise passengers, a 50% increase from 2015.

In terms of development, China’s Wusongkou cruise port will have four berths and three terminals by 2018, up from the present two berths and one terminal.

‘There is a need by Asian cruise ports to expand port infrastructure continuously, and manage and improve tourist satisfaction,’ Kim told delegates at the Seatrade Asia Pacific Cruise Congress in Shanghai Baoshan.

The development of new ports is needed as cruise tourists increasingly seek new experiences and as their demographic becomes more diverse.

John Tercek, vp commercial & new business development, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., said the Asian cruise market is still somewhat ‘immature’ in terms of where the ships can take the passengers.

‘There is a need to create new waterfront destinations in Asia to stimulate cruise tourism,’ Tercek said. RCL has been working on new destinations in Taiwan’s Penghu and Malaysia’s Malacca.

‘From these first two projects we are laying the groundwork for the future. We are trying to take the lead in Asia on developing new cruise destinations as a way for our business to grow as well,’ he said.

In addition, currently most Asian cruises are short journeys of four to five days. But when seven- to eight-day cruises become familiar, more diverse destinations will add to cruising's appeal.

However, despite the thriving business, Kim observed there is also negative impact such as a weak trickle-down effect to the local economy.

While the number of cruise ships is indeed increasing in Northeast Asia at homeports transit ports, he explained most cruisers are on package tours using Chinese tour agencies’ chartered ships. They're obliged to spend at designated shops and eventually lose interest in the tours, he remarked.