Penang is widening its tourism ties with Singapore through cruise partnerships, added air links and trade promotion, leaning on a market that already delivers its largest share of cruise visitors.
Singapore stands as Penang’s third-largest international source market and its biggest cruise source market, served by 98 scheduled direct flights a week. AirAsia runs 32 of those services, Scoot 31 and Singapore Airlines 35 (Buletin Mutiara).
Swettenham Pier logged 67,391 Singaporean visitors from January to August 2026, a rise of 8,408 or 14.25% over the 58,983 recorded in the same months of 2025, tourism committee chairman Wong Hon Wai said.
“These figures reflect the strong appeal of Penang among Singapore’s cruise travellers and underscore the potential to further expand cruise tourism cooperation between our two destinations,” he said.
Wong, who holds the tourism and creative economy portfolio, met cruise operators during a visit to Singapore, among them Royal Caribbean and StarDream Cruises (Pocket News). Penang will keep chasing extra cruise calls and work towards partial homeport status, he said, a role that would feed Singapore’s established homeport network rather than rival it.
The campaign carries into the weekend. Navigator of the Seas, a Voyager-class ship under Royal Caribbean International, makes its maiden call at Swettenham Pier on 30 October, due alongside at 2.30pm.
A partial homeport lets some passengers begin and end a voyage in Penang while the vessel keeps a base port elsewhere for turnaround services. Wong framed the arrangement as complementary, giving operators more places to pick up and drop off travellers across South East Asia.
Wong travelled for ITB Asia, a travel trade fair drawing tourism businesses from 132 countries and running from 21 to 23 October at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre. Fifteen Penang companies joined the state delegation to court buyers and build regional networks.
On the sidelines, the delegation called at the StarDream Cruises headquarters and met its president Michael Goh. The group also visited Royal Caribbean International’s Singapore office, where vice president of government relations Wendy Yamazaki received them.
Bagan Dalam assemblyman Kumaran Krishnan and Penang Global Tourism chief executive Ooi Chok Yan formed part of the group. Wong said deeper regional cooperation, better facilities and stronger shore excursions would help Penang capture more of the spending cruise passengers bring.
