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20 | www.travelweekly-asia.com CRUISE Cruising in Asia used to be associated with the northern part of the region. Not so now, as many cruisers want to experience the rich diversity of South-east Asia, leading to many cruising companies relocating their ships to the destinations further south. Malaysia is one of the beneficiaries of this shift in interest, with a number of cruise ships currently stopping at the country's main ports including Penang, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) and Port Klang (Selangor), the gateway to Kuala Lumpur. Princess Cruises, the British- American owned cruise line, is one of the companies that is seeing Malaysia's potential in the cruise market. It brought its Sapphire Princess for a four-month stint from November 2014 to February 2015. Similarly Star Cruises' 1,400-passenger SuperStar Libra home-ported at Penang in November 2014 to early this year for short and long itineraries. Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas, a 3,800-passenger ship that sailed to Southeast Asia in 2013, is beginning to visit Malaysia. The Malaysian government, STRAITS RIVIERA: MALAYSIA'S CRUISE PLAYGROUND OF THE EAST? by Corinne Wan Perdana Harbour in Pulau Langkawi. Photo: iStock. realising the potential of cruise tourism, is taking the lead in building up this sector to boost the country's economy. Under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), the government plans to spend RM550 million (US$158 million) for tourism marketing to achieve the targeted 36 million tourist arrivals by 2020. According to the ETP roadmap, the government will also develop the Straits Riviera to capture the global cruise market in this region. The project will consist of five purpose- built integrated cruise terminals in Penang, Sepang (Selangor), Malacca, Tanjung Pelepas (Johor) and Kota Kinabalu, which will be complemented by nine secondary ports. Meanwhile, local governments are investing heavily in upgrading and building new ports to cater for growing larger ships. Facilities currently available at the ports of Langkawi, Penang, Port Klang, Kuantan, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching are not sufficient to cater for larger cruise ships carrying thousands of tourists into the country. The government said it is committed to making cruise tourism one of the core areas of the country's tourism development plan. This is reflected in the setting up of the Malaysia Cruise Council (MCC), a policy-making advisory committee consisting of representatives from the public and private sectors with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Ministry of Transport and local port authorities playing important roles. Six sub-task forces have also been formed under the MCC to address specific issues and provide focused recommendations for the six primary ports. Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen, chairman of Tourism Malaysia, said the government was supportive of turning Malaysia into one of Asia's largest port hubs. "Malaysia is developing and upgrading our hubs for cruise tourism and the government is supportive of making Malaysia the main cruise tourism playground of the East." Additionally, strong government support and initiatives in the sector with regard to regulatory procedures, destination development and port infrastructure will facilitate the growth of the cruise market, she added. One current project that will elevate Malaysia as a cruise playground is Melaka Gateway, the RM40 billion (US$11bn) project in Malacca that will open its doors to visitors in 2018. The 609-acre project, which is being developed by KAJ Development Sdn Bhd (KAJD), is scheduled for completion by 2025. It is a project with 12 precincts including residential, commercial, cultural, entertainment and lifestyle elements. One of these precincts is the Melaka Marina and Cruise Centre. Its marina terminal will be the largest in Asia, tapping into the growing number of cruise ships plying the route which currently bypasses Malacca due to lack of facilities. KAJD chief operations officer, Gavin Lau, said the marina terminal alone will cost some RM600 million (US$166m), and will be able to handle three cruise ships at the same time. There will also be a 290-metre ferry berth, with daily services to Bengkalis, Dumai and Pekanbaru in Sumatra, Indonesia. The terminal, an idea formed by Royal Caribbean Cruises and KAJD, will be connected to the rest of the complex and mainland Malacca via monorail. The project is timely as Malacca currently lacks the facilities to cater for cruise ships and other marine vessels despite receiving dozens of cruise ship calls annually. Malaysia is developing and upgrading our hubs for cruise tourism and the government is supportive of making Malaysia the main cruise tourism playground of the East.