Factors influencing the development of a passenger cruise terminal in Sri Lanka from an agency perspective

Abstract

With the increase of buying power of the average working individual, more people are starting to take increased number of vacations. This may be within the country they are currently residing in or overseas. As more people travel abroad, they look to have more unique experiences or once in a life time experiences. This is where cruise shipping is playing its part. It provides a truly unique experience that cannot be matched by any other and there by enticing more people to hop on board. A cruise ship is a luxury vessel that takes its passengers on a pleasure voyage and is more than just providing passages a voyage from point an origin point to a destination point. That is the unique selling point that attracts more passengers to the cruise tourism industry. Most cruise ships provide passengers with entertainment centers, restaurants, shops, theaters, gyms and many more amenities making them forget that they are actually somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Asia is one of the largest contributors to this growing industry and is capitalizing greatly on its benefits. Sri Lanka being centrally located in this region too is looking at capitalizing on cruise tourism and building a passenger cruise terminal at the port of Colombo. In terms of the tourism industry, there is not much more that Sri Lanka can offer to attract more travelers to the country. But in terms of cruise tourism, there is a lot more that needs to be done prior to building a passenger cruise terminal. It needs to have stable long-term policies in place in the maritime industry as a whole which will help to show cruise companies that Sri Lanka is a stable country and that they should not have any fear of any sort of turmoil. Additionally, Sri Lanka needs to develop the cruise tourism industry as a whole through the increase in passenger sourcing as well. This will give confidence to the cruise companies that Sri Lanka has potential in the industry not only to handle ships but also the supply passengers and provide them with greater revenue. If measure like this are put into place, there are many benefits that the economy and the country as a whole can gain from improving the cruise tourism industry.