COLOURFUL HONG KONG WELCOME FOR LUXURY CRUISE LINER’S FIRST VISIT

One of the world’s most luxurious cruise liners glided into Hong Kong for the first time on 21 December and was welcomed with a traditional Chinese lion dance on the dockside of Ocean Terminal.

The liner, R2, is the flagship of Renaissance Cruises, the world’s fifth largest international cruise line, and its quality and service standards are rated “4-Star Plus” by the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships 2000. It has a maximum capacity of 824 passengers.

Hong Kong has been designated a “turnaround port” on R2’s current winter itinerary in Asia, which means that passengers can embark or disembark in Hong Kong, as well just making it a port of call. The ship will be making two further visits between now and mid-February 2001. These three visits will bring some 4,200 cruise passengers to Hong Kong and help strengthen its reputation as “The Cruise Capital of Asia”.

Victor Doone, Senior Manager – Tourism Marketing for the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA), said he was especially pleased that Renaissance Lines had now added Hong Kong to its itineraries, as it was already a popular stop for many of the world’s other leading cruise operators.

“The HKTA is making a big effort to develop Hong Kong’s inbound cruise market because we believe it has strong potential for future expansion,” he noted. “The Government supports this view and is studying the possibility of developing a second cruise terminal and adjacent visitor attractions. This would be very beneficial to Hong Kong because cruise passengers tend to be among the highest spenders of all visitors.”

Since 1992 the number of cruise passengers embarking or disembarking in Hong Kong has increased seven-fold, reaching over 1.38 million last year. The HKTA is forecasting a further increase of at least 15% for 2000. To further develop this market, the HKTA regularly attends major international cruise conventions around the world to promote Hong Kong’s benefits as a destination to cruise line operators.

Besides R2, three other new luxury cruise ships are due to make their first visits to Hong Kong during the next 12 months. They are P&O Cruises’ Aurora, NCL’s Norwegian Wind and Silversea Cruises’ Silver Shadow. Together, they will bring an estimated 18,000 additional cruise passengers to Hong Kong.