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Singapore launches S$10m fund to boost cruise industry
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : The Singapore cruise industry is gearing up for the next wave of growth.
A new S$10 million fund has been launched to attract major international cruise companies to partner Singapore in developing and marketing fly-cruise products. Cruising the high seas Italian style -- that is what the Costa Allegra, which is making its maiden call in Singapore, is all about.

The ship's owner, Costa Cruises, plans to strengthen its presence in the Far East, and it is partnering Singapore under the Fly-Cruise Development Fund to jointly promote cruise travel. Said Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, "Cruise passengers in the Asia Pacific region are projected to grow by more than 40 percent from 1.07 million in 2005 to 1.5 million by 2010. With cruise becoming a purpose-of-visit driver in its own right, we are looking at how cruise and air travel can be packaged together. This will allow the cruise industry to also benefit from Singapore's strong air connectivity.

Singapore attracted more than 620,000 cruise passengers last year, and it hopes to raise this to 1.5 million passengers by 2015. Industry players believe the new development fund, to be disbursed over three years, will help to boost the cruise sector by having more targetted marketing efforts. Said Joycelyn Su, senior manager, CTC Holidays, "With the influx of the S$10 million (fund) into the cruise market, it will definitely attract a lot more regional people. So we are working with partners to attract people from Indonesia, Malaysia into Singapore, to take the cruise out from Singapore, as well as to fly to other places from Singapore on a fly-cruise experience." Prospects are looking up, but the operator says one of the challenges is to convince Asian tourists to buy into the fly-cruise concept. Studies have also shown that Asians typically prefer a shorter cruise experience of up to a week, compared to European travellers, who could spend up to one month on such trips. Come December, Costa Cruises will homeport its cruise ship, the Costa Marina, in Singapore. The 1,000-passenger liner will offer five Asian cruises out of Singapore, calling on ports in Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. This is in line with the Singapore Tourism Board's aim of anchoring 10 cruise ships here, on a seasonal or home-ported basis, by 2015. Currently two ships, the Star Cruise Gemini and Star Cruise Virgo, call Singapore their home port.

- CNA /ct


This article can be found at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/209890/1/.html