It sees foreign visitor's independent tours(FIT) as the panacea to Fukuoka's struggle to accommodate growing numbers of passengers arriving nearby Hakata port on cruise vessels, the majority from chartered ex-China sailings.
We are trying to move the ‘cruise business to the next stage’, Takayuki Miyamoto, cruise promotion, tourism & convention department, economy, tourism & culture bureau, Fukuoka City, told Seatrade Cruise news.
He was reiterating the city's plans announced at a cruise event held in Fukuoka earlier this year, where the focus was on qualitative and sustainable growth of the cruise industry.
From seven international cruise calls in 2006 it notched up 328 in 2016. Hakata is expecting 361 this year making it the top cruise port in Japan for three consecutive years. Miyamoto said 95% of the ships come from China.
The ‘bakugai’ - a Japanese term for the tsunami of shopping tourists from China - pile into large buses which congest Fukuoka city's traffic. In promoting FIT authorities are developing multi-language support at Hakata port and major train stations.
A specially-designed website offers a Fukukoa city e-guide, which provides tour routes, information on current events, distances and timings.
Fukuoka boasts one of the largest free Wi-Fi services in Japan with 476 access points in 104 sites.
Cruise passengers can visit several attractions within a 20 minute radius of each other in popular areas such as Tenjin, Hakata (Hakatabu), Central Park and Seaside Momochi.
Miyamoto explained, ‘If shared by a small group of four people, taxi fares become almost comparable to that of buses. We are working with cruise lines to provide better shoreside experiences.’
Since March many ex-China cuise itineraries have been adding Japanese ports to get round the China ban on its citizens visiting Korea but Miyamoto said Hakata port had been unable to accommodate some of the short notice requests as its berths were already booked.
Hakata port has the capacity to accommodate 450 cruise calls annually.
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