Arrivals of international tourists on cruise ships are expected to return to 90 percent of pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels by the end of this year thanks to new business models, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
Taiwan on March 6 permitted international cruise ships to resume services, Department of Navigation and Aviation Deputy Director Han Cheng-hua (韓正華) said.
As of Sunday, 252 international cruise ships had departed from or transited at seaports across Taiwan, with 106 at the Port of Kaohsiung, 100 at the Port of Keelung, 36 at the Port of Magong in Penghu County and 10 at the Port of Hualien, Han said.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan International Ports Corp
Within six months, 423,000 people on cruise ships had accessed seaports in Taiwan, he said.
The number of cruise ship arrivals could return to about 50 percent of what it was in 2019 by December, he said.
About 140,000 international tourists are expected to arrive on cruise ships this year, close to 90 percent of the 2019 level, Han said.
In 2019, a record 667 cruise ships stopped or transited at commercial seaports in Taiwan, ministry data showed.
Of the 1.05 million arrivals, about 160,000 were international tourists, the data showed.
About 40 percent of the arrivals this year were from Hong Kong or Macau, 30 percent were from North America or Europe, and 20 percent were from Japan, the data showed.
Han attributed the quick recovery after the pandemic to a new business model, in which cruise ships operate from two home ports instead of one.
“We have had so many international cruise ship arrivals this year because they have Kaohsiung and Hong Kong as home ports,” he said.
“Traditional cruise ship services mainly benefit outbound tourists, as they only allow international arrivals to stay in Taiwan for five to eight hours,” Han said. “With the two home-ports model, international tourists can disembark and stay in Taiwan for a few days before leaving on a flight or a cruise ship.”
The new model allows international tourists to spend more time in Taiwan and travel to more cities, which generates greater business opportunities than before, he said.
Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC) forecast that 450 cruise ships would access seaports in Taiwan next year.
Resorts World One would operate using Kaohsiung and Hong Kong as home ports, while the MSC Bellissima from March next year is to use Keelung and Yokohama, Japan, as home ports, TIPC said.
In June next year, the Norwegian Spirit is to arrive in Taiwan for the first time and operate tours between Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, it said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) has instructed that efforts to attract cruise ship travelers from overseas be boosted, Han said.
Aside from participating in the annual Seatrade Cruise Global expo, TIPC sent a delegation to communicate directly with cruise ship operators overseas, Han said.
Meanwhile, the Maritime and Port Bureau has formed the Asia Archipelago Cruise Alliance with the Philippines and South Korea to promote island-hopping tours, he said.
About NT$430 million (US$13.44 million) would be allocated to renovate Kaohsiung’s Peng Lai Cruise Terminal, while Penghu County is being upgraded to accommodate cruise ships weighing up to 150,000 tonnes with the extension of the Port of Magong’s Pier One, Han said.
Completion of the Pier One work is expected in March next year, he said.
Taiwan would keep its reduced docking fees and subsidies for cruise ship operators until next year, he said.
The Tourism Administration is organizing tours for international cruise ship arrivals, he added.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS