BREMERHAVEN (GERMANY) : Genting Hong Kong Ltd, which has fortified its position as one of the leading cruise operators in the world, is ready to transform the industry further with its “Total Freedom” concept.
The battleground will be China, a newcomer to cruise travel and the market with the most potential as cruise operators rush to deploy more vessels to the area.
“We are bullish because we don’t see a slowdown. All the players are announcing more ships being based out of China,” said Genting Hong Kong chairman and chief executive officer Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, here, recently.
He said there are no more than five vessels operating in China compared with 100 ships based in the Mediterranean and North America.
“China is practically a virgin market. We’ve gone from zero cruise passengers to one million now, and our competitors are seeing a five million cruise passengers market out of China, so you need a lot more ships.
“We’re very fortunate to have placed an order. If not, we won’t be able to see a ship for another five years, and our competitors will take us to the cleaners.
“With this ship, we are able to at least start the ‘Total Freedom’ concept to get more data as to how the global-class ship should be built,” Lim said in an interview on board Genting Dream — Genting Hong Kong’s latest and largest vessel prior to its official delivery.
“Total Freedom” allows passengers the flexibility to customise their holiday at sea. They can design their very own cruise journey from food and beverage, entertainment, retail, beauty and spa treatments to shore excursions.
It wasn’t too long ago that Genting Hong Kong faced difficult odds when its competitors — Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean Cruises, the two largest players in the cruise industry — were taking up valuable slots at major shipyards to build their vessels.
“Meyer Werft couldn’t give us the slots we wanted. Nobody can operate a business with no ability to command the supply side of the equation. The demand for cruising is there and the shortage is in the ships.
“We saw this as the bottleneck, and the only way we can solve it is to build our own ships,” said Lim, who was once named “Travel Entrepreneur of the Year” by Travel Trade Gazette Asia.
In order to produce sufficient ships on schedule for its rapid fleet expansion, Genting Hong Kong bought four shipyards in Germany which will produce two mega ships of more than 200,000 gross tonnes each and a mid-size ship of 50,000 gross tonnes a year.
It spent €33.9 million (RM154 million) on Lloyd Werft, which will focus on repair and maintenance, and €230 million on three shipyards that were renamed MV Werften.
Genting Hong Kong plans to spend €260 million to upgrade the shipyards over the next few years while boosting headcount to 3,500 from 1,700 in five years.
“MV Werften would have only one customer and that’s Genting Hong Kong, and will build ships for three of our brands,” added Lim.
Genting Hong Kong is the only cruise operator in the world with its own shipyards.
Having the physical assets is part of the equation. The other is providing the right mix of products and services that appeals to the targeted passengers, he said.
“Our brand is becoming known in China but it’s not by accident, because we’re creating a new brand, we know what medium can best deliver that story and we work on that.
“We’re quite confident that the Americans may not understand as much. They have a strong brand, but it may not be relevant to the Chinese market.”
Lim, who joined Genting in 1976, hopes to be remembered as the “King of Asian Cruise” instead of “Casino King”.
“That’s what I started more than 20 years ago, without really knowing what it’s all about until today. I think we should be rightfully proud. But it’s still not finished yet. The story is going to get more exciting.
“I enjoy what I do, whether it’s the cruise or land side of the business and I would continue to do it as long as I enjoy it. If I stop enjoying it, I might retire and live on a cruise ship,” he added.