Bintan Resorts established a partnership with Resorts World Cruises, a new Asian luxury and dynamic cruise to boost international visitors to Bintan Resorts, an international beach resorts located at Northern Bintan Island of Riau Island Province, Indonesia. The partnership by both parties was officially documented in an MoU signing ceremony at Doulos Phos the Ship Hotel in Bintan Resorts on Saturday, 2nd July 2022. PT Bintan Resort Cakrawala as the master developer of Bintan Resorts was represented by Frans Gunara as Vice President Director and Resorts World Cruises was represented by Raymond Lim the Chief Operating Officer. The MoU signing was also witnessed by Ansar Ahmad, Governor of Riau Island Province, Suryo Pratomo, Ambassador of Indonesia for Singapore, Robby Kurniawan, Head of Bintan Regency and their related departments, and Eugene Cho Park, CEO of Gallant Venture Pte Ltd.
Resorts World Cruises had its first cruise to Bintan Island, on Friday 1st July 2022 with the Genting Dream departing from Marina Bay Cruise Center Singapore in the night and arriving in Indonesia’s waters, Northern Bintan Island on Saturday 2nd July 2022 in the morning, in which on the same day MoU signing was held. Passengers disembarked from the cruise ship onto a tender boat for a day trip shore excursion in Bintan Resorts. Tender boat was available to and fro from 10am to 5pm.
It is not the first time for Bintan Resorts to collaborate with cruise liners in making it as port of call. The same initiative was established with other cruise lines since 2018 but was disrupted by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Voyager of the Seas, owned by Royal Caribbean International also made Bintan Resorts as port of call twice in the year of 2019, bringing 4,000 passengers each trip.
Making Bintan Resorts as a cruise destination is a right decision due its strategic proximity with Singapore. Bintan Resorts with its diverse attractions, tourist spots, activities, beautiful landscape, pristine beaches that are well managed with international standards are what cruise travelers are looking for. Management of Bintan Resorts prepared various tour packages which are inclusive with return land transportation to reach various spot of attractions such as water sports, fun elephant ride along the beach at Lagoi Bay, or culinary exploration at Plaza Lagoi that is enlivened by traditional bazaar by cottage industries of the local community. In addition, there are also packages to enjoy a variety of tourist attractions at Treasure Bay Bintan, which is popular with its blue Crystal Lagoon as the main attraction, as well as sightseeing and exploration to Safari Lagoi to enjoy watching the animals that are classified as endangered species and under conservation; such as Orang Utan, Sumatran’s Tiger, crocodile and so forth.
Group General Manager PT Bintan Resort Cakrawala, Abdul Wahab said that Resorts World Cruises’ deployment is one of entry points to increase international visitors to Bintan Resorts with majority are from Singapore, India, Malaysia and across the region.” Weekly trips of the cruise ship are projected to contribute number of travelers at approximately 4,000 up to 5,000 visitors a month. We have signed an MoU for 52 weeks,” he said. In addition to that, Abdul Wahab explained that apart from visitors who come from the sea as entry point, Bintan Resorts is also accessible for visitors via land entry at the main gate of Simpang Lagoi who are dominated by local or national travelers from nearby cities such as Pekanbaru, Medan and Jakarta, getting into Bintan Island via air transportation of Raja Haji Fisabillilah in Tanjung Pinang or Hang Nadim in Batam.
“We are excited to be the first international cruise line to call onto Indonesia post pandemic, bringing international travelers to Bintan Island. We look forward to expanding our itineraries in Indonesia with more destinations later this year to Surabaya and North Bali to support and grow the regional cruise tourism industry”, said Mr. Raymond Lim, Chief Operating Officer of Resorts World Cruises.