KUALA LUMPUR: The Transport Ministry will facilitate the operating licence for Melaka International Cruise Terminal as it would boost the state’s tourism sector.
Minister Anthony Loke said an application for the cruise terminal, under the Melaka Gateway project, had been resubmitted.
“We are supportive of reviving the cruise terminal at Melaka Gateway as it is very feasible project and it will support Melaka’s tourism sector.
“In fact, last Friday I met up with Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh to discuss this. The state government is also supportive of it.
“Hopefully, we can revive the operating licence for Melaka Gateway to become an international cruise terminal as soon as possible,” said Loke at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre here today.
Meanwhile, Loke said the ministry’s strategy was to get more cruise liners to home port in Malaysia in a bid to heighten tourism and economic growth.
He said Malaysia had lagged behind in terms of being a home port and instead received more port of calls.
Studies, he said, showed that each home port passenger arriving in Malaysia to go on cruises would spend three times more than those who disembark briefly during port of call.
He said the prerequisite be a home port was the proximity to international airports.
The Port Klang and Penang cruise terminals, he added, had this advantage and that transportation were enablers of tourism.
All port authorities and operators, he said, were supportive of having more cruise liners to be home ported at their terminals.
“The ministry is also encouraging this initiative. We look at it as not only increasing port and cruise movements but also to generate revenue and bring tourists into our economy,” said Loke.
Source: [NST]