Bali builds modern port for cruise ships

The Jakarta Post

Antara, Denpasar | Thu, 05/15/2008 6:31 PM

A modern port aimed at attracting more foreign cruise ships is under construction in Karangasem district, Bali, Bali transportation agency head Putu Sujana said here Thursday.

Once the port is completed, foreign cruise ships passing Indonesian waters could schedule a few days for a port call in Bali, Sujana said.

"Luxury cruise ships carrying tourists from other countries to Singapore are expected to come to Bali once the modern, permanent port is ready."

Sujana said at least 300 luxury cruise ships arrived in Singapore every year, each carrying around 1,500 to 2,000 tourists.

"Floating hotels on their way to a number of countries in Asia usually pass Indonesian waters. They are expected, therefore, to stop in Bali when the port is ready."

Even if only a half of the 300 cruise ships stop in Bali, it would have a positive impact on tourism in the province, he said.

Financial support for the port is coming from the central government, Bali provincial administration and Karangasem district administration, Sujana said.

Construction is expected to finish in 2009.

At least 17 cruise ships with thousands of foreign tourists stopped at the old port in Karangasem in 2007 and 15 cruise ships in 2006.

One of them was the Italian Costa Marina with 496 tourists, which anchored at Karangasem port for two days.

Before the Bali bombing tragedy, said Sujana, more than 20 cruise ships stopped in Bali and in 1995 alone 70 of them with hundreds of thousands of tourists arrived at the resort island.