Cruise services being revived along Chinese coastal lines

Following the successful maiden commercial voyage of the Adora Magic City, China's homegrown large cruise ship, a number of ports and cruise companies are bidding to restart the industry which had developed at record pace prior to the pandemic.

Industry insiders told the Global Times that they are planning new moves to develop the cruise market in the coming months.

On Sunday, International cruise ship Dream set sails from Sanya International Cruise Port in South China's Hainan Province, local news portal hinews.cn reported on Monday. A total of 599 passengers embarked on a voyage to Vietnam's Hạ Long Bay that spans four days and three nights. The cruise ship will be based in Sanya and complete a total of 15 voyages through to March 31, according to the report.

Apart from Sanya, ports along China's costal line from north to south are preparing for a resumption of cruise travels. 

On January 9, as part of a sweeping plan to support Nansha district in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and deepen comprehensive cooperation and expand high standard opening-up, China's top economic planner announced a plan to offer 144-hour visa-free period for people transiting through the district and visa-free for cruise travel.

A representative from the Port of Guangzhou, the world's fifth largest port, told the Global Times on Tuesday that Nansha International Cruise Port in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province that the terminal is preparing to re-launch cruise service.

Earlier, it was reported that the terminal, after a suspension of four years, aims at fully resuming operation in the early months of 2024, possibly before the Chinese Lunar New Year.

In January, the Adora Magic City, operated by CSSC Cruise Technology Development Co, welcomed its first group of over 3,000 Chinese and foreign passengers on a voyage to South Korea and Japan.

Royal Caribbean International said it is sending the Spectrum of the Seas back to China which is scheduled to conduct its first voyage in April.

At a recent media exchange event, Liu Zinan, Asia chairman of Royal Caribbean Cruises, told the Global Times that with Royal Caribbean and CSSC Cruise starting to operate in the Chinese cruise market in 2024, the number of Chinese cruise tourists in 2024 is expected to recover to 70 percent of 2019 levels, and the market is expected to fully recover by 2025.

China's cruise market was the world's second-largest before the COVID pandemic struck.

In 2019, China's international cruise market was already 10 times that of Japan, only exceeded by the US, which is the world's largest cruise market.

According to a report by the China Cruise & Yacht Industry Association and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, the cruise ship industry could contribute 550 billion yuan ($81.05 billion) in economic output to Chinese economy by 2035. About 15 percent of them would come from the building of new ships, repairs, and maintenance.

Xie Xie, a research fellow with China Waterborne Transport Research Institute, told the Global Times on Tuesday that currently cruise terminals in China are trying their best to attract cruise ships to be based in the region, while cruise ships are also trying to find their comfort zones, noting that price wars have dented profitability of some cruise companies that restarted businesses last year.

Xie expected China's cruise industry to return to 60-70 percent of their pre-pandemic value in 2024. "But the cruise ports still need to improve their services capacity, including further improving their business environment and offer more targeted itineraries for cruise tourists."

Currently, foreign tourists face the difficulty of payments while onshore, lack of social media apps and quality of onshore itineraries, Xie said.