Business confidence in cruise tourism is higher than ever among travel agents in Indonesia, bolstered by the rebound of international visitor arrivals and cruise ship activity in Asia, showed CruiseWorld Indonesia 2023, which took place on 13 June in Jakarta.

Organised by Travel Weekly Asia in partnership with Resorts World Cruises and Royal Caribbean International, the event aimed at tapping into the vast potential of cruising for travel growth opportunities under the theme 'Fast-track your cruise business now'.

Besides bringing together a stellar line-up of industry speakers, CruiseWorld Indonesia 2023 also drew over 180 Indonesian travel agents, marking the highest number of attendees to date.

Welcome speeches at CruiseWorld Indonesia 2023

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Irene Chua vice president / group publisher, Asia of Travel Weekly Asia welcoming the audience.

Irene Chua vice president / group publisher, Asia of Travel Weekly Asia welcoming the audience.

Opening address by Michael Goh, president of Resorts World Cruises.

Opening address by Christina Hendra, business development manager - Indonesia of Royal Caribbean International.

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Bullish expectations

Speaking during the panel discussion ‘Collaboration and Marketing in Asia Tourism’, Ni Made Ayu Marthini, deputy minister for marketing at Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy’s (MoTCE) revealed high expectations for Indonesia tourism as the market rebounds.

International tourist arrivals reached 3.2 million from January to April 2023, with Malaysia, Singapore and Australia among the top three market sources. For 2023, the MoTCE has set a target of 8.5 million international visitor arrival target and US$10 billion in revenue. “We are bullish about our future,” said Ni Made Ayu Marthini.

The bullish sentiment also runs high among the travel agent audience. During live polls conducted during the conference, the delegates indicated that over 95% of travellers are keen on cruising holidays. Furthermore, over 90% of the delegates expressed confidence in selling fly-cruises as a holiday destination of choice.

At the conference, Royal Caribbean International’s business development manager – Indonesia Christina Hendra also shared that the Indonesian travel market had achieved record-breaking numbers and experienced double-digit growth for the international cruise line, surpassing its pre-pandemic performance.

Supporting cruise tourism revival

With cruise revenue in Asia projected to reach US$3.1 billon in 2023, Indonesia clearly wants a bigger chunk of one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors. “In 2023, I’m optimistic the number of cruise passengers will increase,” said Vinsensius Jemadu, MoTCE’s deputy minister for tourism products and activities organiser.

Cruise is a key focus of MoTCE to attract more tourists to Indonesia, said Vinsensius, who expressed his keen intent to grow Indonesia’s immense potential in cruise tourism through a multi-pronged 4E strategy that involves driving “enjoyment, experience, engagement and empowerment”.

‘Collaboration and Marketing in Asia Tourism’: [from left] Travel Weekly Asia’s Xinyi Liang-Pholsena; MoTCE’s Ni Made Ayu Marthini and Vinsensius Jemadu; and Singapore Tourism Board’s Mohamed Firhan Abdul Salam

Singapore, which has welcomed more than one million international tourists in recent months, is not letting up in its efforts to drive cruise tourism, said Mohamed Firhan Abdul Salam, area director, Indonesia (Jakarta office) for Singapore Tourism Board.

The STB continues its robust support for the trade through the Cruise Development Fund, which is “a very generous scheme” to help agents to expand and sell their repertoire of fly-cruise packages and products in Singapore.

Meanwhile, ASTINDO president Pauline Suharno shared that the association recently signed an MoU with STB to grow cruise tourism and conduct more trainings in Indonesia’s second-tier cities.

Southeast Asia as ‘Caribbean of the East’

Hariyadi Sukamdani, chairman of the Indonesia Tourism Industry Association (GIPI) – which boasts 35 industry associations under its wing – shares his vision of developing Indonesia as well as Southeast Asia into the “Caribbean of the East”.

‘Voice of Association Leaders’: [from left] Travel Weekly Asia’s Xinyi Liang-Pholsena; ASTINDO’s Pauline Suharno; and GIPI’s Hariyadi Sukamdani

“We can be the third most popular cruise destination after the Caribbean and Mediterranean. Indonesia stretches 5,120km from east to west and 6.6 million sq km in sea area, which covers more than 17,000 islands,” said Hariyadi.

Cruise tourism in Southeast Asia is only the tip of a massive iceberg, said Resorts World Cruises’ Michael Goh. “The cruise penetration in Asia stands at 0.08% inn 2023 and is expected to grow to 0.12% by 2027, so what do these figures mean?

“It means that a lot of people have never cruised before. There’s a lot of potential for you to invest in cruise business and continue to grow.”