Northstar

12 | www.travelweekly-asia.com CRUISE According to HKTB, the cruise market for 2017 saw a total of 1,677,095 cruise passengers, showing 4.4% growth since 2016, while this year's first quarter has seen 379,053 passengers cruise from or through Hong Kong, giving a 1.6% increase on the same quarter 2017. Geographically, Q1 has seen most throughput from Europe with more than 12,000 passengers. Next best is the US with more than 11,000 passengers, Australia with more than 3,000 and South and South East Asia with more than 800. Last year's biggest performers were again Europe, specifically UK and Germany, and Australia. As for short-haul, the Philippines led by a long shot, as well as Taiwan. At Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, Jeff Bent, director of Worldwide Cruise Terminals, is looking forward to a slight increase from 16 cruise lines this year to 18 lines calling in 2019, as well as homeporting from ships under Dream Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Holland America, plus turnaround calls from Silversea, Norwegian, Costa, Cunard and more. "In order to pitch more homeport sailings from new cruise ships, a special incentive will be offered to cruise lines to support the launch of their maiden deployments in Hong Kong," reveals an HKTB spokesperson. Not all brands are convinced, however, and Nancy Chung, director of Carnival Corporation Hong Kong explains they currently offer an annual world cruise with Cunard that loops in Hong Kong, but have no concrete plans to increase to homeporting with brands Cunard or Princess in the next 12 months. "We feel there are a lot of ships homeporting out of Hong Kong already," she said, explaining that not only do these ships need to source thousands of passengers a week, but mainland Chinese passengers must cross customs and immigration to sail from Hong Kong. She suggests Hong Kong could offer additional incentives to further attract the mainland market. It's a good question. Hong Kong's government via the HKTB has responded with a number of campaigns that promote segments, such as fly-cruise, rail-cruise, cruise plus attractions, tapping in to Hong Kong's sophisticated air lift, upcoming High-Speed Rail Link and constant development of theme parks and culture. It is worth noting that with the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai- Macau bridge comes a direct link to the Greater Bay Area, home to 68 million people with a total GDP of US$1.4 trillion. Meanwhile, MICE at sea is looking buoyant. Alongside other brands, Dream Cruises, partnering with HKTB, is promoting the value and one-stop-shop nature of MICE at sea, following meeting planner training. Thatcher Brown, president of Dream Cruises, sees many of Hong Kong's theme park attractions as ideal add-ons pre- and post- cruise. Itineraries are key to a sustainable market, and Asia's cruisers prefer short sailings, which At this year's ITE travel expo, Hong Kong's pavilion featured a façade of cruise line brands, a clear indication of the importance of the industry to the SAR. By Catharine Nicol is partly why Carnival prefers to homeport in Taiwan, Singapore and Japan. Over the border, between 2013 and 2016 the mainland's cruise industry leapt 70% year-over-year, with cruise lines, partnerships and ports responding. In 2017 the country saw 2.8 million passengers, and China's Ministry of Transport is anticipating 4.5 million by 2020. Looking ahead, "We believe the story for the coming years will be the continued development of the Chinese source market," says Bent. "Visa restrictions for Chinese passports fall away monthly. Outbound cruise tourism development may not happen at an even pace, but the necessary hardware and software are all coming along rapidly. China has every potential to continue to grow as a source market for cruises from its own ports and overseas ports." Cruising still a buoyant market for Hong Kong and mainland China Costa Deliziosa Holland America Line's Nieuw Statendam Long-haul markets • Transit cruise passengers: 86,112 (-7.3%) • Homeporting and turnaround cruise passengers: 96,419 (+7.3%) • Total passenger throughput (arrivals and departures): 186,977 (+0.3%) Short haul markets (excluding mainland) • Transit cruise passengers: 46,758 (+322.5%) • Homeporting and turnaround cruise passengers: 90,756 (+136.1%) • Total passenger throughput (arrivals and departures): 167,451 (+137.1%) Mainland China market • Transit cruise passengers 61,756 (-45.6%) • Homeporting and turnaround cruise passengers: 146,230 (-9.3%) • Total passenger throughput (arrivals and departures): 433,070 (-18.3%) Grand total passenger throughput: 1,677,095 (+4.4%) HONG KONG CRUISE 2017: BY THE NUMBERS Voyager of the Seas.

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