Hong Kong Showcases Cruise Appeal at Seatrade

Strong cruise numbers and new infrastructure developments are helping Hong Kong cement its status as Asia's cruise hub.

That's the case made by the Hong Kong Tourism Board at this week's Seatrade Cruise Global convention in Fort Lauderdale.

With four straight years of growth in cruise ship calls and guest arrivals, it's an impressive case. In 2017, the destination welcomed Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas and Genting's World Dream. The latter will homeport year-round in Hong Kong in 2018. Ovation of the Seas will homeport there from May to June and Voyager of the Seas from July to August.

Infrastructure improvements are also expected to boost the interest in cruising from Hong Kong. Among them is the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, scheduled to open this year. It will shorten the distance from Hong Kong to China's western Pearl River Delta to about three hours. Trips between Hong Kong and Zhuhai or Macau will also be reduced to one hour.

Additionally, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link will increase the speed of travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland.

Overall, Hong Kong received more than 14 million international visitors in 2017, a huge source of clients for fly-cruise packages, officials note.