Celebrity Solstice Sandar Giant Cruise In Bali, Bring 2,800 Tourists

The cruise ship celebrity soltice docked at Benoa Harbor, Denpasar, Bali, on Monday (30/10). (Pelindo 3 Public Relations PHOTO).

DENPASAR - Cruise ship cruise celebrity soltice docked at Benoa Port, Denpasar, Bali.

The ship with a length of 317 meters and a width of 37 meters is the largest ship that has stopped at Benoa Harbor, Bali, with 2,800 foreign tourists.

Ships that weigh up to 121,878 GT make celebrity soltice the largest ship to ever stop at Benoa Harbor.

This ship was also recorded carrying 3,944 passengers consisting of 2,776 passengers and 1,168 crew members and is the ship with the highest number of passengers who have docked at Benoa Harbor.

Pelindo's Director of Strategy Prasetyo said that his party had made detailed preparations to welcome this cruise Celebrity Solstice, including by providing a special 46-meter-long alleyway or accommodation ladder to facilitate the process of debarkation and passenger embarkation.

"This is history for us to serve the ship's docking process with a length of more than 300 meters at Benoa Port, so we have to prepare well, one of which is the provision of alleyways. Our jetty is also quite long, a total of 500 meters so it can serve jumbo size sandar cruises," said Prasetyo, Monday, October 30.

Meanwhile, the Deputy for Maritime Sovereignty and Energy Coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Kemenkomarves) Jodi Mahardi said, the arrival of the celebrity soltice is Indonesia's momentum to show its potential and ability as a world tourism home port.

"We see this as an opportunity after we have succeeded in bringing in and juxtaposing a large cruise ship, we just have to strengthen the port connectivity in the west and east so that the spread of tourists can be even more evenly distributed," said Mahardi.

The cruise ship celebrity soltice itself, plans to dock for two days at Benoa Harbor after previously sailing from Sydney, Australia to Singapore. The arrival of this ship adds to the number of ship arrivals at Benoa Port 2023 as many as 50 ships with a total of 74,461 passengers. Pelindo predicts cruise ship visits at Benoa Port will continue to grow in 2024 to reach 52 ships and passengers up to 89,400 people.

Deputy for Tourism Products and Activity Implementation (Events) of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) Vinsensius Jemadu said that the arrival of the Celebrity Solstice cruise ship for the impact of visits to tourism certainly contributed greatly.

"If we look at around 70 (up to) 80 percent of our dependence on foreign tourists in air connectivity (air flights) because direct flights are very large in contribution. Meanwhile, we hope that there will be an increase of 5-10 percent of the contribution of foreign tourists arrivals," he said.

"And now from January to August 2023, it has reached 7.43 million (tourists to Indonesia) from the target of 8.5 million this year. We are optimistic that the 8.5 million will be achieved even beyond the crude trend that comes to Indonesia," he continued.

Vinsensius also mentioned that spending of money or the amount of expenditure spent by foreign tourists on average per one visit in total is 1,200 USD and for foreign tourists who board this cruise ship it can reach 1,500 to 2000 USD.

"On average, the total foreign tourists are 1200 USD per visit. If the cruises that come are rich people, they hope to spend of 1500-2000 USD per tourist," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Bali Tourism Office, Tjok Bagus Pemayun, said that the arrival of the celebrity soltice brought around 2,800 foreign tourists, and while on the Island of the Gods they would visit Ubud, in Gianyar Regency, Bali, Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) in Kuta Selatan District, Badung Regency, and to destinations in Kintamani District, Bangli Regency, and to Taman Ayun Temple, in Badung Regency.

"Of course with 2,800 passengers, I see that I will visit Ubud, GWK, and Kintamani areas including Taman Ayun. Of course, we hope to have a positive impact, especially spending money per day, an average of 1200 USD. If we look at the average of all of Bali, both from ports and airports, 200 USD. Moreover, this cruise ship, this rich person, I hope the impact will be extraordinary," he said.