The Taiwan cruise market is poised to reach a milestone this year.

According to David Tsao, Chief of International Affairs Division of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, the country is about to become the second largest source market in the Asian region.

In its two main ports Taiwan receives homeport deployments from Princess, Costa and Star Cruises on a regular basis.

“From Keelung harbor, in the North, we have cruises that go to Japan,” Tsao said.

“From Kaohsiung, in the southern part of Taiwan, the ships go to Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Philippines and more,” he continued.

As a goal for the future, Taiwan would like to develop its fly-cruise operation.

“People could fly to Taipei and then cruise to Japan or other destinations,” Tsao said.  

“Even if you’re in Taiwan for just one day, you can see a lot. You can go to Taichung, for example, in the middle of Taiwan, in just two hours,” he said.

The city is one of the main tourist destinations in the island and is located almost at the same distance from both country’s main cruise ports.

Since 2016, the number of cruise passengers in the country has grown by about 35 percent, Tsao said.

In 2018, 1,110,126 cruise guests visited Taiwan, including both homeport and transit operations.

Key to future growth will be a new Oasis-class ready terminal in Kaoshiung set to open in early 2020.