JAPAN TODAY


 

Japanese ports have been bustling with an increasing number of foreign cruise passengers amid robust demand for ship tours that has led to the development of new services combining a voyage with rail or air travel.

In 2016, 1.99 million foreigners arrived in Japan on cruise ships, up 78.5% from the previous year, and the government aims to raise the number to 5 million in 2020, according to the transport ministry.

The southwestern main island of Kyushu is the most popular stop-off point for cruise ships from abroad. In 2016, cruise ships made 715 port calls in the region, a six-fold increase from 2013, according to the local bureau of the transport ministry.

Around 1.94 million foreign tourists entered Japan through Kyushu ports in the year, surpassing the number of arrivals at airports, the ministry's Kyushu Regional Development Bureau said.

The majority of cruise ship passengers were from China, thanks to the region's geographical proximity.

An official of the bureau expressed bewilderment, saying, "How come there was such a sharp rise?"

In a bid to accommodate the soaring number of cruise ship passengers, Kyushu ports have made such efforts as expanding quays and building new terminals.

Another popular cruise ship destination is Yokohama, which had ranked top in Japan in the number of port calls for more than 10 years until 2014 and saw the figure rise to a new record high in 2017. In 2015 and 2016, Hakata port secured first place.

The city government attributed the port's popularity to a service dubbed as "Fly & Cruise," in which tourists fly to nearby Haneda airport and then board a cruise ship from Yokohama.

Yokohama port, which opened in 1859 as Japan's first modern international trading port, boasts of having the largest number of port calls by domestic ships. "The port has a long history and is a cruise destination representing Japan," a city government official said.

A new service launched in 2016 featuring "inter-porting," which offers a regular cruise to ports along the Sea of Japan coast, has also proved popular. The tour connects the ports of Hakata in Fukuoka Prefecture, Maizuru in Kyoto and Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture with South Korea's Busan and allows passengers to board and disembark at each port.

At Kanazawa port, a service named "rail and cruise" -- a combination of travel on the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line that links Tokyo with areas on the Sea of Japan coast, and a voyage -- has attracted foreigners as well as domestic tourists.

According to the Ishikawa prefectural government, the local economy has benefited from the service as tourists go sightseeing and stay at lodgings in the area before and after the cruise.


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