Asia-Pacific cruising needs to shape up or ship out

ASIA-PACIFIC cruise industry leaders have called for greater stakeholder integration and coordination so as to maximise gains from the rapid growth of cruise tourism within the region.

During a plenary session on the state of the Asia-Pacific cruise industry, Ann Sherry, CEO of Carnival Australia, emphasised the urgent need for Asia-Pacific cruise industry stakeholders "to get organised".

She said: "We have to get stakeholders – be it the government, port authorities, NTOs, hoteliers or tour operators – behind us to orchestrate and coordinate marketing and advocacy efforts. Stakeholders need to put on a united front to encourage investment and development in port and cruise tourism infrastructure, which is still sorely lacking."

Kelvin Leong, general manager of Asia Cruise Association (ACA), agreed that Asia's cruise industry, though potentially lucrative, still lagged behind in coordination as compared to more established counterparts such as Australia.

"Travel consultants (in Asia) are not educated to act as advocates for the (cruise) sector. At the same time, cruise development is not high on the list of priorities for Asian governments, and as such, cruise lines face a roadblock – currently there just aren’t enough ports of call to vary itineraries and to boost profitability,” he said.

Leong added that ACA was attempting to tackle these issues by engaging with travel firms and relevant government bodies such as ASEAN.

In line with this strategy, ACA has entered into a partnership with Globalports and the French Riviera Port Authority to launch the inaugural Asia Cruise Forum in 2013. 

Scheduled to take place in Singapore, Malaysia or Hong Kong, the forum aims to establish a training and accreditation framework for the cruise industry, while acting as a catalyst to accelerate port and cruise infrastructure development.

"We hope to draw all stakeholders together (for the forum), creating synergies to effectively capitalise on the booming Asian (tourism) markets," said Leong.

Sourced: TTG Asia