The number of cruise liners and passengers visiting Taiwan during the first seven months of 2017 climbed 34.2 percent and 26.5 percent year on year, respectively, according to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
A total 404 cruise ships carrying 582,000 passengers from home and abroad docked at harbors around Taiwan. The top port was Keelung in northern Taiwan with 326 visits and 498,000 passengers, followed by Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan with 62 and 72,000.
Yeh Hsieh-lung, deputy director-general of the MOTC’s Department of Navigation and Aviation, said Aug. 11 that many international lines such as Costa Cruises of Italy, Princess Cruises of the U.S. and Star Cruises of Hong Kong have selected Keelung and Kaohsiung as home ports. This is due to the emergence of Taiwan as the second largest source of cruise passengers in Asia behind mainland China, he added.
According to Yeh, cruise travel is advancing in popularity at a rate of knots among locals and foreigners alike. A total 30,328 of the seafaring tourists jetted into Taiwan from abroad for fly-cruise holidays during the first seven months, exceeding the MOTC’s annual target of 25,000, he said.
Of this number, passengers from Southeast Asian countries topped the rankings at 34.2 percent, followed by Hong Kong and Macau, 28.3 percent; and Japan, 10.3 percent, according to the latest statistics from Taiwan International Ports Corp.
State-run TIPC is bullish on the prospects of Taiwan’s cruise market, forecasting ship visit and passenger numbers to reach 600 and 1 million this year, respectively.
As part of efforts to cater for this surging demand, the MOTC said renovation and upgrade projects are underway at the Port of Keelung’s two tourism centers. Scheduled for completion by year-end, the undertakings involve adding more boarding bridges and escalators, as well as expanding luggage storage space.
According to U.S.-based Cruise Lines International Association’s Asia Cruise Trends 2016 Report, Keelung was the fifth busiest port in the region for ship visits behind Fukuoka, Singapore, Shanghai and Jeju Island in that order. (CPY-E)
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