Carnival Corporation recently opened its flagship office in Singapore and marked the occasion by having the Costa Atlantica line make its first call at the city’s thriving port. Government and industry officials, local dignitaries and select VIPs all came out to a reception to support Carnival’s entrance into the new Singapore cruising market. The Costa Atlantica and Costa Victoria are scheduled for a total of 125 cruises in 2013, which doubles Costa’s fleet in Asia. These cruises will carry more than 220,000 passengers throughout the region.
Costa is just the latest line of several others that will soon be docking in Singapore. Singapore attracts nearly one million cruisers annually, but as the city aims to be the leading port of Southeast Asia, port officials are hoping for more than 1.5 million by the 2015/2016 cruise season. This means more jobs in the travel and tourism industry for Singapore residents, as cruisers come to visit.