Cruise control? Tourist ship operators to provide passengers’ preferred travel options in Hong Kong, arrange for split disembarkation to avoid terminal bottleneck
- Tourism chief Kevin Yeung vows to learn lessons from recent logistics fiasco in which arriving cruise passengers had to queue under the heat for transport into city
- He guarantees authorities have prepared for impending arrival of 5,000-strong Spectrum of the Seas next week
Cruise operators of ships arriving in Hong Kong next week will have to provide passengers’ preferred travel options in advance and arrange for disembarkation in batches if needed, the city’s tourism chief has said in a bid to avoid congestion at the Kai Tak terminal.
Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, vowing to draw lessons from a recent logistics fiasco at the cruise terminal, on Saturday said the government had been scrambling to improve passenger services with the arrival of mega vessel Spectrum of the Seas on August 19.
“Last Saturday, large crowds of passengers had to wait at the terminal for a long time … which had an impact on the city’s image and tourism. We stepped in immediately to improve the transport arrangements there,” he told a radio programme.
“In view of another cruise visit next Saturday, we will learn our lesson … Passengers can be arranged to disembark in batches if needed so they don’t need to queue up for a long time outside at the terminal under the sweltering heat.”
Terminal operators should monitor the situation and notify the coming cruise ship with 5,000 people on board that not all passengers would be let off if there was a bottleneck for transport into the city, he said.
Yeung also pledged to improve services for disembarking passengers, saying tourism officials had been liaising with the terminal operator and the cruise ship on different plans to provide efficient transport services.
“We are now working out preparation plans for enhancing services for passengers. For example, we have demanded that the cruise provide us with passengers’ preferred transport options so we can offer choices for them, such as more taxis,” he said.
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Yeung added tourists could easily access public transport at the terminal after authorities rolled out new shuttle bus routes and cash incentives for taxi drivers following complaints over poor transport links.
After hundreds of cruise passengers were forced to wait in line for city transport over the weekend – in some cases for as long as 45 minutes – authorities announced on Tuesday night they would provide three free shuttle bus routes to key tourist spots and give cabbies a HK$50 (US$6) coupon to top up their tanks.
Sea change for passengers as free buses cut queues at Hong Kong cruise terminal
“So far the additional measures we put in work quite well. You can see that the tourists get on the public transport and taxis very easily,” he said.
“We’ll continue to monitor the situation, especially because we have a relatively big cruise coming in next Saturday. That’s of course another test of our measures.”
Resorts World One will be the other cruise ship to dock at the terminal for the rest of the month, with Spectrum of the Seas making a single visit on August 19 before returning on September 23. Resorts World One will use the facility for the remaining Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays of the month.
With mainland China allowing outbound group tours to more countries, including Japan and South Korea, following the end of the pandemic, regional competition for cruise business is expected to intensify, but Yeung said he remained unfazed over Hong Kong’s prospects to secure a share of the market.
“We are confident that the city’s tourism recovery will continue, nor are we afraid of competing with other countries,” he said. “As long as we have performed our best and rolled out more promotional campaigns, Hong Kong will continue to attract many tourists with its unique characters.”
Lawmaker Starry Lee Wai-king, the leader of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, the city’s largest political party, urged authorities to rethink how the terminal was commercially positioned, saying the venue was underused and lacked transport links.
“I urge the government to seriously look at the lack of transport links in the district, which have failed to live up to public expectation. The facilities in the vicinity, such as the park there, have been underused,” she said.
“Another problem is that most of the shops in the terminal have remained vacant, which is really bad for a precious site like this … The government needs to reposition the terminal and introduce measures to revitalise its development.”
