Yesterday was the traditional Dragon Boat Festival. At Victoria Harbour, dragon boat races were held in several places. At dusk, in the light of the setting sun, the giant, 130,000-tonne luxury liner Mariner of the Sea, carrying 3,000 tourists, sailed into Victoria Harbour from the east and docked at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Kowloon. It was welcomed by Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) officials, lion and dragon dances, Chinese drums and cheers. Passengers joyfully disembarked for sightseeing and shopping ashore. This marks that Hong Kong has further upgraded its status as an "Events Capital", determined to carry through its ambitious plan of becoming Asia's cruise tourism hub.
Hong Kong, known as Pearl of the Orient, has the beautiful Victoria Harbour and long coast lines. As such it has the inherent advantages to develop cruise tourism. However, after many years of operation, the Ocean Terminal at Tsim Sha Tsui has become aged and backward. The dock can only accommodate cruise ships under 100,000 tonnes. But nowadays, global cruise industry tends to build "jumbo" liners bigger than 100,000 tonnes or even over 200,000 tonnes. Lacking a dock for super cruise liners, Hong Kong could not help but feel helpless and frustrated watching them pass by. This was totally not commensurate with Hong Kong's status as an international financial hub, trade centre, shipping and logistics hub and an Events Capital.
With the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok going into operation upon completion of construction after Hong Kong's return to the Motherland, the site of Kai Tak airport became an abandoned piece of land, to many people's dismay. During his tenure, the first Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa began to conceive of developing cruise tourism, but the idea had been left in the air. It was not until later when the overall planning for development of East Kowloon was put on the agenda, that final decision was made on building a Cruise Terminal on the site of the Kai Tak airport. Afterwards, excavation, land reclamation, waterway and harbour deepening and construction of the terminal building formally kicked off.
Much to our regret and frustration, during the 10 years or so in between, cruise terminals in our neighbouring cities have mushroomed: Shanghai, Tianjin, Xiamen, Keelung, Kaohsiung, Singapore, and Malacca..., all big enough to accommodate ships of over 100,000 tonnes. So much so that, from the very first day of its operation, Kai Tak Cruise Terminal has already to face fierce competition by strong rivals.
A Cantonese proverb has it that "Who unties the mooring rope will sail first". Kai Tak Cruise Terminal has already lost the race by a nose at the start. While it's no use crying over spilt milk , the future can still be redeemed. What is important for us is to catch up by making incessant exertions. Belated construction of a cruise terminal could be turned into an advantage.
As a matter of fact, compared with its neighbours, Hong Kong has better conditions and greater potential to develop cruise tourism. The crux of the matter lies in whether we have the determination and could make good use of our advantages. Others aside, just in terms of "hardware", the construction, design and facilities of Kai Tak Cruise Terminal are better than its rivals. Kai Tak Cruise Terminal occupies a land area of 7.6 hectares, eight times the size of the Hong Kong Stadium. Its construction costs $8.2 billion. It's beyond doubt that its equipment is first class. Apart from the exterior appearance, Hong Kong's best selling point or consistent advantage lies not so much in "hardware" as in "software", such as fine services, high efficiency, good-quality management and provision of various supporting services. In this regard, Hong Kong always enjoys the reputation of leading others in the region or even in the world. A proof is the Chek Lap Kok Airport which for many years has been ranked No 1 in Asia and in the world. Frequently-travelling Hong Kong people are also deeply impressed by its efficiency and good services when coming back to Hong Kong
Therefore, in future, Kai Tak Cruise Terminal should focus its business operation on management and services. Taking Shanghai's Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal for example, when it went into operation in 2010 with its first-class "hardware" equipment, passengers disembarked from ships found nowhere to dine or shop inside the terminal building, and naturally they cursed. In this regard, neighbouring cruise terminals in operation are like a mirror for Hong Kong. HKTB should regularly send personnel to pay inspection visits so as to learn experiences and draw lessons from them.
Cruise tourism is an industry for high-end consumers, which grows 10% annually. Hong Kong has the competitive edge with all favourable conditions, and thus has the sufficient condition to lure this "golden goose" to come and lay eggs. Likewise, market potential of Hong Kong people themselves should not be underestimated either. As long as Kai Tak Cruise Terminal can build up a reputation with good-quality services, it is bound to attract customers.
13 June 2013
