Beijing move for expanded cruise 'will boost Kai Tak Terminal'
Mainland tour groups setting off from Hong Kong to Taiwan on cruise ships can now travel onwards to Japan or South Korea before returning home, Beijing authorities say.
Mainland tour groups setting off from Hong Kong to Taiwan on cruise ships can now travel onwards to Japan or South Korea before returning home, Beijing authorities say.
The move will bolster the ambition of Hong Kong, which recently opened the modern Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, to be a home port for cruises.
The easing of the travel arrangements takes effect a year after it was announced as part of the latest phase of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between the mainland and Hong Kong.
It could make cruises more attractive to mainlanders and increase Hong Kong's competitiveness in the sector, Tourism Board chairman Peter Lam Kin-ngok said yesterday.
"The Tourism Board hopes that Hong Kong will forge closer co-operation with more neighbouring ports … and attract more international cruise lines to include Hong Kong on their routes," Lam said.
He said the board would urge mainland travel agencies to develop cruise-related services.
Joseph Tung Yao-chung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council, believed the new measure would help make the Kai Tak terminal a home port for cruise lines.
Under the new arrangement, mainlanders are allowed to join the cruises as part of a tour group but not as individual travellers, the China National Tourism Administration said.
They must apply to mainland travel agencies that are permitted to take mainlanders to Taiwan, and each tour group should have at least 100 people.
The visitors must hold travel permits for Taiwan and documents allowing passage to either Japan or South Korea, or both countries.
Tourism-sector lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said the arrangement would appeal most to residents in the mainland's southern provinces, such as Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi , but cautioned that the effect would not be felt until about a year later.
"There are about 30 cruise ships coming to Hong Kong in the next 12 months, but they are not heading to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea," Yiu said.
"It is expected that the impact will emerge only in the second half of next year," he said.
