A total of 582,000 cruise ship travelers visited the nation’s ports in the first seven months of the year, up 26.5 percent from same time last year, the Department of Navigation and Aviation said.
About 498,000 tourists arrived in Keelung Port, an increase of 27.7 percent, while the number of tourists to Kaohsiung Port grew by 157 percent to about 72,000, it said.
Some of them also made stops in the Taichung and Hualien ports, the department said.
Taiwan International Port Corp (TIPC), which oversees all of the nation’s international seaports, is confident that its goal of 1 million cruise ship travelers this year is attainable, department Deputy Director-General Yeh Hsieh-lung (葉協隆) said.
Although Taiwanese tourists to Ishigaki, Okinawa and other places still account for the majority of cruise ship travelers, Yeh said there has also been a significant increase in overseas tourists.
“The Executive Yuan had set a goal of receiving 25,000 cruise ship tourists from overseas this year. As of last month, there were 30,382,” he said.
The department said 34.2 percent were from the Southeast Asian nations targeted by the government’s New Southbound Policy.
About 40 percent were from Malaysia, most of whom traveled on package tours that cover flights, accommodation and tours, the department said.
They were followed by tourists from Hong Kong and Macau (28.3 percent) and Japan (10.3 percent), it added.
Taiwan is the second-largest source of cruise ship tourists, preceded only by China, Yeh said.
Last year, Keelung Port was ranked fifth among the top 10 cruise ship ports, preceded by those in Jeju, South Korea (No. 1), Shanghai (No. 2), Singapore (No. 3) and Fukuoka, Japan (No. 4).
Because of the significant increase in cruise travelers to Taiwan, several liners — including Star Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines and Costa Cruises — have designated home ports in either Keelung or Kaohsiung and have launched tours to nearby destinations, Yeh said.
They have greatly boosted the number of such travelers to Keelung and Kaohsiung ports, he added.
The growth momentum is expected to continue in the second half of this year, TIPC Stevedore and Warehouse Division director Jeffrey Tsao (曹志宏) said.
Star Cruises had planned to end tours leaving from Keelung next month, but decided to offer more tours in October and November, he said.
In October, Carnival Cruise Lines is to launch tours from Kaohsiung Port to Okinawa, the Miyako Islands, Hong Kong and Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay, Tsao added.
Although a new passenger terminal in Kaohsiung Port is scheduled to open in 2019, TIPC has drawn controversy over its decision to cancel construction of a passenger terminal at Keelung Port, as the city government asked for feedback funds.
Warehouses W2, W3 and W4 on the west side of Keelung Port were designated as historical buildings, hindering the plan, since its site covered W4, W5 and W6.
Instead, TIPC decided to allocate NT$550 million (US$18.15 million) to refurbish W2 and W3 into a passenger terminal, Yeh said, adding that the Keelung City Government is reviewing the proposal and construction is scheduled to begin by the end of next year.
Apart from serving cruise passengers, the terminal would also have a market for independent artists, restaurants and performance spaces.
Some say that the terminal, to be designed by Neil M. Denari Architects, could become a city landmark.
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