News: The Business Times -  15 January 2010


STB eyeing SE-Asia as Caribbean of the East
By LEE U-WEN
IN HANOI


Relaxed: Mr Lee, his wife Ho Ching, and senior government officials on a scenic cruise of Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay, a Unesco World Heritage Site


SOUTHEAST Asia could soon become the 'Caribbean of the East', if the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has its way.

The STB is studying the regional cruise tourism market and has started engaging its counterparts as a typical itinerary involves stops in more than one country.

Margaret Teo, assistant chief executive officer of the government agency's development group, was speaking to the Singapore media shortly after a Singapore delegation led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong returned from a day-long visit to Ha Long Bay, one of Vietnam's most popular tourist destinations.

'In South-east Asia, many ports are in close proximity to each other. It's possible to cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong via Vietnam in about eight days,' she said. 'There is a lot of potential, a lot of choices, and you get to wake up in a different country almost every day.'

The Asia-Pacific region makes up just 7 per cent of the world's total cruise traffic. By comparison, the Caribbean is about 20 per cent and the Mediterranean, about 15 per cent.

Ms Teo said that STB had already begun talks with the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism to provide inputs to them on Vietnam's marine tourism strategy. One stumbling block for now, however, is that Vietnam has no proper cruise terminal for ships to dock at. Only container port terminals are available for use, and these are 'not the most ideal' places for tourists to land as they are usually far from the country's main attractions.

She also revealed that STB had started to engage its counterpart in Thailand while there are plans to open discussions with Malaysia soon.

Vietnam's Ha Long Bay, for instance, last month marked its 15th anniversary as a Unesco World Heritage Site and receives some three million foreign visitors a year, the bulk of whom come from China.

Mr Lee, who is in Hanoi for a four-day official visit, made the three-hour drive to take a scenic cruise of the bay together with his wife and a small group of senior government officials.

After a hectic first two days that involved many high-level meetings and a 200 km round trip to attend the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park groundbreaking ceremony, Mr Lee's press secretary described him as 'happy and relaxed' during the excursion.

Tourism officials from Vietnam were on board to point out the different attractions to him, such as the famous limestone caves.

In a speech on Tuesday during a dinner hosted by Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Mr Lee said that the people-to-people links between the two countries are growing strongly with time.

'Vietnam is an attractive tourism destination for Singaporeans. Your country has many beautiful places with enormous tourism potential,' he said.

Latest figures indicate that tourist numbers are on the rise, with the number of Vietnamese visitors going up 18 per cent last year, while Singapore is currently Vietnam's 10th largest visitor market.

- end of BT article