The number of passenger arrivals at the Port of Keelung could top 460,000 this year because of an increase in travelers arriving by international and cross-strait cruise ships, a Keelung Harbor Bureau official said yesterday.
As of yesterday, the number of international cruise ship passengers had already reached 302,025 this year, up from 300,925 last year.
The number of passengers arriving via scheduled international cruise ships reached about 241,000 as of yesterday, up from 206,917 last year.
Those coming through nonscheduled international cruise ships reached 60,190, compared with 94,008 last year.
Chinese tourists arriving by regular and irregular cross-strait cruise services hit 53,958 by yesterday, up from 44,700 last year.
The number of regular international cruise ship passengers increased because Star Cruises, the main scheduled international cruiseliner, had upgraded from 42,000 gross tonnage (GT) ship SuperStar Libra to the 51,000GT SuperStar Aquarius, bureau deputy director-general Liou Shy-tzong (劉詩宗) said.
He added that 35 currently nonscheduled cruiseliners had informed the Port of Keelung about their scheduled arrivals next year.
As of yesterday, 34 nonscheduled international cruise ships had arrived in the country this year.
“Based on past experience, the actual number could exceed 35 because there might be more cruise ships coming throughout the year,” he said.
Liou said the same growth potential could also be seen in cross-strait cruise services. Currently, the main cross-strait cruise service on COSCO Star brings Chinese travelers from Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, and Xiamen, Fujian Province.
The Port of Keelung estimates the number of Chinese travelers could top 63,500 next year after the renovation project at Taizhou’s port is completed, growing 6.8 percent from this year.
Because of the increase in passengers, the Port of Keelung plans to establish a ferry service center on its western end and a cruise service center on its eastern side.
Liou said an estimated NT$6.4 billion (US$210.6 million) would be invested to construct the cruise service center. The project is subject to approval by the Council for Economic Planning and Development.
The Port of Keelung earlier this month joined the Asia Cruise Terminal Association as one of the organization’s founding members, which would help market Taiwan as a tourist destination.
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