Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming MArch 2016 10 Cover Story Association says volumes in the continent surged from 774,000 passengers in 2012 to 1.4 million in 2014, the last year for which figures are available. And analysts say growth certainly continued last year. For China the expansion has been more spectacular, from 217,000 cruise passengers in 2012 to 697,000 in 2014, making it that year’s seventh largest global source market for cruising, CLSA’s Chinese Tourists 2016 report states. Shanghai, Sanya on Hainan, and Tianjin outside Beijing are the top three domestic departure ports, with South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong the top three destinations, the brokerage says. “[T]he Chinese population is getting richer and aspirations are rising for more adventurous and exotic locations, driven by growing social media pressures,” CLSA Regional Head of Consumer and Gaming Research Aaron Fischer and Marcus Liu write. “[W]e have largely seen a continuation of the 2014 trend, with Hong Kong and Macau lagging and a surge in ‘cooler’ holiday destinations to brag home about on social media.” The overall direction of Chinese tourism works in favor of cruises, which offer the independence and choices of an individual excursion with the comforts of a group tour, particularly for shore excursions to “cooler” destinations such as South Korea and Japan where Chinese is not widely spoken. Global giants have joined local leader Star Cruises (see sidebar) in the regional market. Royal Caribbean claims to have the most ships with home ports in China, three in the mainland with a fourth coming and one in Hong Kong under its Royal Caribbean International brand that also sails from Singapore. Additionally, its Celebrity and upscale Azamara Club brand ships call into Asia. The first of the line’s most advanced vessels, Quantum of the Seas, with a capacity of 4,150 passengers, transferred its homeport from the New York area to Shanghai last year. A second giant Quantum category ship will homeport in Tianjin after its inaugural cruise next month. Royal Caribbean carried 400,000 passengers from the China market, including Hong Kong, last year, registering 64% growth annually since 2009, a company spokesperson tells Inside Asian Gaming . Then there is the world’s largest leisure travel company Carnival Cruises, which sails from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan under its Princess and Costa brands. Princess will take delivery of a new ship for Asia next year. In a US stock market filing accompanying 2015 results, Carnival estimates 4 million annual Chinese cruisers by 2020, noting, “The Chinese government has expressed a strong desire to transform China into a leading global cruise region and is making substantial investments in cruise-related infrastructure.” SPENDER CONTENDER Union Gaming Securities Asia Managing Director Grant Govertsen sees cruises as a strong contender for Chinese travel spending. “It represents a new experience for mainlanders and therefore is likely to be something they will want to try,” he says. “The fact that these cruise ships happen to have a casino is icing on the cake.” The CLSA report finds nearly 15% of its survey group had taken a cruise. Among the cruisers, 80% say they will consider taking another. (By contrast, among visitors to Macau, only 8% say they want to visit again in the next three years.) About 70% of the survey group that haven’t tried a cruise would consider taking one. The overall direction of Chinese tourism works in favor of cruises, which offer the independence and choices of an individual excursion with the comforts of a group tour, particularly for shore excursions to “cooler” destinations such as South Korea and Japan where Chinese is not widely spoken.