Cruise travel worldwide will continue to grow at a ‘steady pace’ this year trumpeted by rising demand from Asia’s burgeoning middle classes and broadened vessel offerings, according to Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC).

Speaking to TRBusiness, Christina Siaw, CEO of SCC, which manages and operates three ferry terminals and one international cruise terminal in Singapore, says: “We are particularly excited about the Chinese, Indian, South East Asian and Australian source markets, which have seen a surge of interest in recent years.”

Last year, SCC’s HarbourFront Cruise and Ferry Terminal received 283 ship calls and handled more than 600,000 cruise passengers – a rise of 8% on 2015.

It is set to welcome six new vessels in 2017, Pacific Dawn, Seabourn Encore, Pacific Pearl, Pacific Aria and AIDAblu.

An estimated 25.3m passengers are expected to sail in 2017, up approximately +4.5% year-on-year, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) data indicates.

In 2014, Australia broke the 1m passenger mark, while China’s market share accounted for roughly 986,000 of the 23m total market as demand for cruise travel in Asia continues to grow rapidly.

Overall, cruising has increased by roughly 60% in the past decade, CLIA data suggests.

DFS CONCESSION TO BEGIN IN APRIL

As reported, DFS secured the master duty free and general merchandise concession to operate duty free stores at SCC’s HarbourFront and Tanah Ferry Terminals for the next five years, including a two-year optional extension clause.

The contract covers a reconfigured main space at the arrivals and departure areas of the terminals, where the area is being expanded to cover around 6,000sq ft.

SCC is consolidating several separate duty free concessions into one contract, with DFS currently operating departure transit and arrivals transit stores alongside Ocean Duty Free outlets, operated by Heinemann Asia Pacific.

“DFS Group will deliver a seamless, one-stop and engaging shopping experience across seven outlets at SCC’s terminals for travellers visiting and departing from Singapore by sea,” Siaw updated.

“SCC is working closely with DFS to execute their business proposal and we look forward to showcasing the fantastic new retail experiences at our terminals as soon as possible.”

To read more about developments in the global cruise market, including a focus on the Americas, look out for the March issue of TRBusiness.