Cruise ship tourism comes to Thailand
Cruise liner voyage from Bangkok to Cambodia to Vietnam to Koh Samui to Bangkok to kick off new maritime travel hub for Thailand out of Laem Chabang Port.
Cruise liner voyage from Bangkok to Cambodia to Vietnam to Koh Samui to Bangkok to kick off new maritime travel hub for Thailand out of Laem Chabang Port.
TOURISM & THE SEA
Cruise ship vacations coming to Thailand
12/01/2017
Nanat Suchiva
A major cruise liner company plans to use Laem Chabang as its maritime tourism hub to serve cruise ship travellers in Asean.
The Costa Victoria is a cruise liner (cruise ship) operated by the Italy-based cruise liner company Costa Crociere.
it is is the company's first cruise ship coming to Thailand needing a berth at Laem Chabang's deep-sea port, the Laem Chabang Cruise Terminal (see facebook page here).
Side of Costa cruise liner showing passengers on deck and passenger rooms (cabins) with decks (Screen capture from Facebook video)
SAILING THE SEAS OF ASEAN: GREAT TOURISM POTENTIAL
"Costa Victoria is one of our cruise liners pioneering the Asia-Pacific region."
"We will continually expand in Thailand by launching our first home port cruises from Laem Chabang," he said.
Thailand has long-term tourism potential as a sourcing and destination market for maritime tourism, according to Buhdy Bok, president of Costa Group Asia (see Costa Cruise Thailand facebook page here).
Cruise liner Costa Victoria docked at Laem Chabang port (photo by Prommate Nathomtong posted to Laem Chabang Cruise Terminal facebook page)
CRUISING FROM BANGKOK TO CAMBODIA TO VIETNAM TO KOH SAMUI TO BANGKOK
Costa Victoria captain Giovanni Cosini said Thailand boasted one of the fastest-growing tourism industries in Asia-Pacific.
He also believes that Costa Victoria will play an essential role in serving rising demand for both Thai and international tourists seeking to enjoy maritime tourism in the near future.
Mr Cosini said Costa Victoria will be cruising for over four nights to explore the destination route stretching from Sihanoukville in Cambodia to Phu Quoc in Vietnam.
It will then move on to Koh Samui in Thailand before returning to Laem Chabang.
Check out the GPS system and on board webcams of the cruise ship Costa Victoria operating out of Laem Chabang (access the system here). This afternoon the ship's location was a little way out of the Cambodian resort town of Sihanoukville:
(Screen capture from Costa Cruises website)
THAILAND SET TO COMPETE WITH SINGAPORE, HONG KONG & CHINA IN CRUISE MARKET
Singapore, Hong Kong and China are the current leaders in the Asia-Pacific region, as they have the ability to service cruise ships from around the world.
According to Mrs Wassana Paisarn-akanee the general manager of Joyful Holidays, a sales agent for Cost Victoria in Thailand, "Thailand should promote the fact that it has outstanding piers and ports and a good immigration process for cruise tourists, so that the country will be able to compete with others in this region in the field of maritime tourism,"
Cruise liner Costa Victoria docked at Laem Chabang port (photo by Prommate Nathomtong posted to Laem Chabang Cruise Terminal facebook page)
THAI CRUISE BOOKINGS OUTNUMBER FOREIGN TOURIST BOOKINGS
The fascination of taking a cruise for a vacation and seeing countries in a different way than flying into an airport and staying at a hotel seems to have taken hold among Thais.
Most of the bookings for the first cruises were by Thai tourists not foreigners traveling in Thailand.
For Costa Victoria's first cruise service to be offered from Thailand, 1,500 of the 2,000 total passengers where Thai.
Swimming pool on the top deck of the Costa Victoria (Source: YouTube screenshot)
The cruise cost 13,000 baht per person.
The company normally posts 7-8% growth in sales globally, but sales in Thailand are expected to see robust growth of nearly 100% in the first few years as the country has never had serious cruise promotions before.
View from the top deck of the Costa Victoria past the swimming pool siting land in the distance (Source: YouTube screenshot).
CRUISE LINES: QUITE MASSIVE OPERATIONS
Running a fleet of cruise ships for vacationers is quite a big business.
The company Costa Crociere has 26 cruise ships under the brands of Costa and Aida, with a combined capacity of 72,000 beds.
Great view of the sea from within a Costa Victoria lounge. (YouTube Screenshot)
Seven new vessels will be added to the fleet by 2020.
The company has a global workforce of 27,000 employees operating both on board ships and in 20 offices spanning 14 countries.
As as little bit of a history lesson, on cruises and cruise ships, here is the opening theme song and credits from the 1970s US hit television program "The Love Boat" that popularized cruise tourism in the US:
Full episodes of this classic TV show are plentiful on YouTube:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transport/1178453/laem-chabang-to-serve-as-costa-victoria-cruise-hub
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Victoria
http://www.costacruise.com/usa/ships.html
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Laem-Chabang-Cruise-Terminal/194597290580105?hc_ref=SEARCH
https://www.facebook.com/Costa-Cruise-Thailand-234515143255068/
สามารถฝึกอ่านออกเสียงและดูคำแปลได้ที่ : http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/1178753/cruise-ship-tourism-comes-to-thailand