Hong Kong investing to become Asian cruise hub

When it comes to international business, South Florida long has taken its cue from Hong Kong, the former British colony off China’s coast that is a key financial center for Asia.

But Hong Kong now is taking a cue from South Florida. The region of 7 million residents aims to become a hub for cruises in the Asian region, according to Hong Kong’s top economic official in the United States, Commissioner Donald C K Tong.

Hong Kong’s government is investing more than $1 billion to build a new cruise facility that can accomodate larger ships and also,andnbsp; provide extra meeting space in the harbor area long popular for conventions, Tong said.

Hong Kong’s government initially envisioned the private sector developing the massive cruise project.But since the global recession tightened credit for business, Hong Kong’s goverment has decided to finance the cruise development itself, contracting services from private companies, said Tong.

Plans call for building two berths for large cruise ships, the first to be completed by 2013 and the second in 2015. They’ll be complemented by a cruise terminal spanning more than 60,000 square feet that can provide extra meeting space needed in the harbor area, Tong said.

“We’re actually running out of convention and meeting space in that area. People have to wait list for a long time,”andnbsp; Tong told the SunSentinel during a recent visit to Miami forandnbsp; a cruise industry trade show.Hong Kong hosted roughly 660,000 cruise passenegrs last year, but it could have welcomed more with bigger and more modern cruise facilities, Tong said.

Most cruise passengers now come from South Asia and mainland China, which would remain the greatest source of future cruise business. But Hong Kong also aims to attract more long-haul visitors from the United States and Europe for cruises around Asia, Tong said.Tourism already is a growing industry in Hong Kong,andnbsp; home to a Disneyland Park and two Disney hotels and widely known for world-class hotels, shopping, dining and other attractions.

Hong Kong welcomed roughly 36 million visitors by air, sea and land last year, up roughly 20 percent from 2009. Nearly 20 million of those visitors came from mainland China. Another 1.2 million arrived from the United States, many visiting on business, government statistics show.

Since 1997, Hong Kong is a special administrative region within the People’s Republic of China committed to open amrket policies. It operates under the “One Country, Two Systems” principle with a high degree of autonomyandnbsp; in economic, trade, financial and monetary matters.Hong Kong is rated the world’s freest economy by the conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation of Washington, D.C.

Source = sun-sentinel