This year’s UBM Cruise Shipping Asia-Pacific made its Hong Kong debut on the 20th and 21st of November. Cruise Business Review was again present at this well attended pan-Asian event, which was held in Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. Alan Lam reports.
In a tumultuous excitement over the bourgeoning Chinese-led Asian cruise boom, the conference focused on the multifarious operating environment in Asia and called for lowering of barriers for further accelerated growth in the region, while recognising the progress already made by many local and national authorities in this respect. Aside from the unprecedented growth, the like of which has never been witnessed in the entire history of cruising, the industry has identified and acknowledged a number of challenges facing the sector in Asia.
Weak infrastructure, artificial obstacles, under-developed distribution networks, difficult itinerary planning and adverse weather conditions were among the issues listed as roadblocks for the industry moving forward.
In all the recent cruise industry gatherings around the world, China has been repeatedly mentioned as the emerging epicenter of cruise tourism. On this occasion the conference attempted to address the importance of the cruise business in the entire Asia Pacific region, including the Indian subcontinent, and its implications to the global economy.
While countries such as China, Singapore, Australia and South Korea are steaming ahead, others like Thailand, Indonesia, India and Vietnam are unwilling to be left too far behind. There are conspicuous signs and tangible development in most of these territories in terms of legislative changes and infrastructure upgrades in their efforts to impel cruise business growth.
A full, insightful report of this event will be published in the next issue of Cruise Business Review.
