Singapore hopes to ride the wave of growth in the cruise industry with a new International Cruise Terminal which broke ground on Friday.
The facility at Marina South, costing S$500 million, comes as global demand for the cruise market is estimated to hit 27 million passengers by 2020 – a two-fold growth within a decade.
The cruise industry is still sailing smoothly despite the economic downturn. Global cruise passengers are expected to number 13.5 million this year, according to the Cruise Lines International Association based in the US.
Asia Pacific accounts for 7 per cent of the world’s cruise market and Singapore wants to become a cruise hub.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) expects to welcome its one millionth cruise passenger by year-end – the highest in 10 years. In the first half of this year, passenger arrivals grew 20 per cent on-year to 540,000.
At the groundbreaking of the International Cruise Terminal, Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said: “Since the Singapore Cruise Centre at HarbourFront commenced operations in 1991, Singapore’s cruise passenger throughput has been rising steadily as evidenced by the average annual growth rate of 12 per cent in the last five years. Continue reading
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