Japan's ports to woo more foreign cruise ships

Tokyo

JAPAN'S ports are witnessing a sharp spike in the number of visits by foreign cruise ships. The government plans to accelerate the development of ports around the country to attract large cruise ships, as part of the recently passed economic stimulus package.

Cruise ships bring large numbers of foreign shoppers and are thus important to the local economies of port cities. This year, overseas cruise ships are expected to dock at Japan's top 20 ports more than 1,600 times, a 40 per cent rise from last year.

A number of foreign cruise ships connect China and other Asian countries to the Kyushu region. This year, cruise lines are expected to make 352 port calls at Hakata Port in Fukuoka, which serves as a gateway to the region. If the figure is reached, it will be a 36 per cent increase from last year.

More than 350,000 foreign tourists entered Japan at Hakata Port from January to May this year, according to the latest statistics of the Kyushu District Transport Bureau.

Reasonable travel fees are a major reason for the port's popularity among foreign tourists. A four-night, five-day tour that links Shanghai to South Korea's Jeju Island and Hakata costs about 50,000 yen (S$670) per person, making it popular with Chinese tourists.

Nagasaki is expected to receive 195 port calls this year. In Okinawa, also part of the Kyushu region, 214 port calls were expected at Naha and 103 at Ishigaki. The three figures represent increases of 23 per cent to 86 per cent over last year.

Hirara Port on the prefecture's Miyakojima island is expected to receive 95 visits from foreign cruise ships this year, or 7.3 times more than last year's 13 visits. The port's proximity to Taiwan makes it popular with tourists from the island.

Visits from large cruise ships often bring large-scale shopping sprees worth tens of millions of yen. Thus, port calls contribute considerably to local economies.

For this reason, the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry established a new office focused on attracting foreign cruise ships in April. The office has launched various initiatives, including providing information to cruise lines about which ports are capable of mooring large ships.

The office has already succeeded in convincing Costa Cruises, an Italian cruise operator, to open a regular route that traverses the Japan Sea and includes stops in Kanazawa, Maizuru, Sakaiminato, Busan in South Korea and other ports.

Some Japanese ports lack landing bridges and other infrastructure for mooring large ships, forcing tourists to take a boat between the cruise ship and port. The ministry has increased efforts to select which ports should receive stimulus funding for the development of better facilities.

The government has set a goal to increase the number of foreign tourists using cruise ships from 1.116 million in 2015 to five million in 2020, when the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held.

To achieve the goal, Hakata Port is being redeveloped to enable it to accommodate the world's largest cruise ships, which hold 5,400 passengers and weigh 220,000 tonnes, by 2018. The government aims to transform ports such as Hakata into cruise line hubs similar to Miami in the US and Sydney in Australia. WP