Sailing into Victoria Harbour on board one of the world's new mega cruise vessels ought to be the experience of a lifetime.
So passengers on board are no doubt surprised when they are greeted by the metal cranes at the container port in Kwai Chung and not the elegant lines of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. This is because many large cruise liners are now too big to dock at the quay at Ocean Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui.
But in 2012, the old airport at Kai Tak will be transformed into a cruise terminal, offering two more berths, both large enough to house the giant vessels in vogue today.
The commissioner for tourism, Au King-chi expects the economic benefits of the new cruise terminal to reach HK$2.2billion per year by 2020 and to create opportunities for 10,900 jobs in that time, she said.
'Other than those directly associated with the cruise terminals, job opportunities might also emerge in the related fields of retail, food and beverage, hotels, and cruise consultants and tourist guides,' said Ms Au, who is also chairwoman of the Advisory Committee on Cruise Industry which was set up in January this year to facilitate the development of the cruise market in Hong Kong.
One of the issues likely to be tackled by the committee is the reluctance of travellers in Asia to take cruises for longer than three or four nights. 'The Asian market likes the short cruises. So to get them to cruise for four or five days is very difficult,' said Andrew Coggins, professional consultant and cruise industry analyst at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.