The Fair Princess cruise ship, part of Carnival’s fleet
May 6 – The world’s largest cruise ship operator, Carnival Corp, have just established operations in Singapore with the stated goal to promote Singapore as “the cruise hub for Asia, as Miami is for the Caribbean”.
Carnival, who operate over 100 cruise ships around the world, will be based out of the Marina Bay Financial Center as they look to develop their business throughout the region. Carnival CEO Pier Luigi Foschi estimated that the number of Asian cruise passengers could hit 3.7 million in 2017, doubling to more than 7 million by 2020.
“There’s good weather here, lots of islands to visit and a lot of experiences. Southeast Asia is not too different from the Caribbean in terms of these basic conditions,” said Foschi.
He did, however, say that the industry faced many challenges in Asia, such as infrastructure development in docks and the habits of Asian customers. Unlike in the United States or Europe where such cruises are often booked a year in advance, Asian customers tend to book their holidays at the last moment.
Carnivals growth plans include promoting both its Costa Cruises and Princess Cruises brands across the region, and will be offering three-four night cruises to Thailand and Malaysia over the next two months.
