Singapore's new International Cruise Terminal was recently launched with the facility at Marina South, costing S$500 million, and coming as global demand for the cruise market is estimated to hit 27 million passengers by 2020 - a two-fold growth within adecade, according to Singapore news reports.
The Singapore Tourist Board expects to welcome its 100th cruise passenger by the year end, the highest in 10 years. In the first half of this year passenger arrivals grew 20% year on year to 540,000, which is more than the total number of tourists arriving in Sri Lanka in the whole year.
At the groundbreaking of the International Cruise Terminal, Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said: "Since the Singapore Cruise Centre at Harbour Front commenced operations in 1991, Singapore's cruise passenger throughput has been rising steadily as evidenced by the average annual growth rate of 12 percent in the last five years.
In 2008 over 1000 cruise ships called in Singapore chalking up the passenger input of over 920,000. The Port of Colombo lost its only cruise operation carried out by Indian Ocean Lines for 2 years with the vessel 'Ocean Odyssey' to Mauritius. Observers said cruise passengers tend to spend about 30 percent more on average, which could boost Singapore's economy.
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