Colin Au, Chairman, Genting Hong Kong; Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International; Arnold Donald President and CEO, Carnival Corporation & plc. andPierfrancesco Vago Executive Chairman, MSC Cruises will take the stage at Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific in Baoshan, Shanghai (China) to discuss the State of the Asia-Pacific Cruise Industry.
The conference session is being held from 15:10-16:30 on the second day of the event (Thursday 10 October 2019) where these senior cruise line leaders will provide insights into the recent development of the cruise industry in Asia-Pacific. The speakers will discuss and present topics including market dynamics, addressing the challenges in each sector of the industry, and sharing their current and future plans for the region.
Recent figures from CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) in their 2019 Asia Cruise Deployment and Capacity Report, show that 2019 will see a total of 1,917 sailings, and generate capacity for 4.02 million passengers to cruise in Asia. 39 cruise brands are now active in Asian waters deploying a total of 79 ships.
This year’s total passenger capacity has been reduced by 5.7% year-on-year after several years of rapid expansion. The decline was mainly due to the reduction of short cruise itinerary options from mainland China. Nevertheless, the 13 million passenger destination days forecast in 2019 will translate to more potential onshore visits from cruise passengers, creating a stronger tourism impact for the destinations across the region.
In terms of destinations, CLIA suggests that Asian passengers prefer to stay closer to home with a massive 90% of sailings taking place within Asia. Shorter sailings also remain the dominant choice of Asians with an average sailing duration of 4.9 days – the lowest amongst source market regions in the world.
As well as the opening session, the following topics will be discussed during the three-day event:
- The Development of Source Markets in Asia Pacific
- The Sustainability of Cruise Tourism in Asia
- An Update on China's Cruise Shipbuilding and Repair Sector
- Trends in Asia Pacific Deployment
- Asia Ports Infrastructure Update
To find out more about the full program, and for regular updates, please visit https://www.
