Jointly published by China Cruise & Yacht Industry Association (CCYIA), Shanghai Hongkou District People's Government and SISI, the 2009-2010 China Cruise Industry Development Report was released on January 21 in Shanghai. This was the second release of an authoritative report on the cruise industry in China.

Cruise tourism becomes a new star of China’s tourist industry

Since the end of 20th century, the global cruise tourism has been maintaining an annual growth of 8%, the fastest in the global tourism market. In 2008, approximately 17 million tourists worldwide involved in cruise tours. In the context of financial crisis, despite a 1.5% shrinkage in cruise tourists of North America as compared with 2007, the number of global cruise tourists still increased by 4%, with compelling performance presented by China's cruise tourism market.
Before 2006, China's inland tourists usually flied to Hong Kong and Singapore before taking outbound cruise tours. Since Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruises opened up cruise routes based on Shanghai and Tianjin in July 2007, inland tourists has been able to go aboard the cruise liners inside China for outbound tours mainly to Japan and South Korea. In 2009, the number of outbound tourists by international cruise liners departing from China inland reached 200,000 person-times; if including inland tourists joining cruise tour in Hong Kong, Singapore, U.S. and Europe, the total number was estimated to have reached 350,000 to 380,000 person-times.

According to the statistics of CCYIA, international cruise passenger liners departing from China's coastal cities recorded 80 voyages in 2009, up 38% YoY from last year; international cruise liners visiting China's coastal cities registered 76 voyages, with an addition of 5 new cruise liners heading for China; China Ocean Shipping Agency, the general agency of international cruise liners, received 156 voyages of international cruise liners, up 39.3% as compared with last year, with 20 international cruise liners visiting or operating in China. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Costa Cruises, Star Cruises, MSC Cruises and other cruise lines successively set up offices or operating agencies in China. Taking Shanghai as an example, in 2009, the total number of cruise liners berthing at Shanghai and the number of passenger entry and exit jumped respectively by 17% and 83% as compared with 2008. China's cruise market soared with extraordinary performances against the international financial crisis.

According to the investigation of CCYIA, over the next 3 to 5 years, major consumers of China's cruise market will consist of three groups: (1) the young and middle-aged, who have obtained or are tending towards complete economic independence and pursuing higher living standard; (2) large enterprises, seeking for new carriers for large-scale business activities, staff awards and customer relationship activities; (3) large societies, aiming to regain the lost charm of traditional large-scale conferences and activities by exploring new ways. These three groups will be the backbone of China's cruise tourists. CCYIA will strive to implant the concept of cruise consumption into these large groups through multiple measures and channels, and create a larger source market for cruise lines.
As pointed out by Vice President and Secretary-General Zheng Weihang of CCYIA, China's cruise market is attracting increasingly greater attention from domestic and international tourism industries, and the cruise tour is emerging as new leisure tourism for Chinese white collars. It is expected that China's cruise tourism will usher in an explosive development in the next 2-3 years.

World cruise market shifts its center eastwards

In recent years, the world cruise market has shown obvious signs of a slowdown. Though enjoying absolute advantages, the cruise tourist market of North America has been saturated. In such traditional cruise destinations as the Caribbean, some routes have remained unchanged for more than ten years. The conspicuous staleness of cruise routes has become the biggest obstacle to the expansion of cruise tourist market. In the Alaska region, laws have been promulgated to strictly limit the number of cruise liners visiting the region in order to protect the fragile natural glacial environment. Therefore, domestic cruise lines have been constantly looking for new destinations in order to cater to the demand of cruise consumers for new destinations, as well as their own needs for exploring new source markets.
According to Costa Cruises' data, Asia cruise market accounted for only 5% of the global market share, a negligible scale as compared with American and European counterparts. However, as anticipated by Ocean Shipping Consultants, a London-based maritime research institute, Asian cruise passengers will escalate to 1.5 million person-times in 2010 from 1.1 million in 2005. Meanwhile, international cruise lines injected growing capacities into Asian market. In addition to growing numbers of cruise liners operating in Southeast Asia, such emerging cruise destinations as Japan and South Korea in Northeast Asia and Dubai in Middle East are also fetching in international cruise lines, translating into YoY growth in cruise visits. It is suggested that, international cruise lines are looking for new destinations, and shifting and expanding their shipping capacity to Asia.

As the main force for the future growth of global cruise market, the Asian cruise market mainly enjoys three advantages. First, along with the emergence of cruise port cities, Asia's major port cities are rushing to develop cruise economy. Second, as the only region in the world that may produce quantities of new tourists and new economy, Asia enjoys a huge tourist potential. The affluent middle-class in this region provides plenty of potential tourists for the development of the cruise market. Third, the complementary climates among various Asian regions enable an optimal environment for cruise tours throughout the year. In high-latitude areas of Northeast Asia, such as China, Japan, South Korea and eastern Russian ports, the ideal season for cruise tourism is from April to October; while in Southeast Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, as well as Central Asia including Dubai and Doha, the ideal season is from November to next May or June.

As stated by Xiao Baojia, Vice President of Shanghai Maritime University and Director of SISI's Cruise Economy Institute: extending across Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, China is not only an important departure and destination port for Asian summer cruise routes but also an important berth for winter ones. In addition, any around-the-world route has to pass by China. The unique oriental culture, rich tourism resources and huge tourist potential prompt China to become a kernel part of Asian cruise market, gaining prominence among cruise lines.

Cruise liners: the icing on the cake for Expo 2010

To be held in 2010, Shanghai Expo will show the world an open and modern China, bringing new opportunities for China's cruise economy. Major cruise lines will further expand their markets by increasing routes and introducing diversified cruise tourism products. For example, the confirmed homeport routes from Shanghai North Bund nearly double that of 2009. It is estimated that during the Expo, 74 international cruise liners will berth at the North Bund, with more than 150,000 inbound/outbound tourists. In addition, relevant government departments will also firmly grasp this sound opportunity for the development of cruise economy, further deepening incentive programs for cruise-related industries and actively fostering new economic increases.

Ying Mingyong, Vice District Mayor of Shanghai Hongkou District, at the news conference said that, with rich maritime cultural heritage and solid foundation for the development of the shipping service industry, Hongkou North Bund takes the lead in the development of China's cruise economy. Hongkou Government is implementing the tasks of accelerating the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center assigned by the State Council and Shanghai Municipal Government. It has also formulated a series of measures to further optimize the development environment for North Bund cruise economy, speed up the construction of road transport, as well as commercial and business supporting facilities in the North Bund, expand the cruise economy chain, and encourage cruise lines, cruise travel agents, cruise consulting companies and cruise supply companies to settle in the North Bund, increasing the contribution of the cruise industry to the regional economy.

Top 10 News on China's Cruise Industry in 2009

The following Top 10 News on China's Cruise Industry in 2009 was launched by CCYIA, and selected based on expert reviews and online votes (sorted by time).
? China Released the First Cruise Industry Development Report (White Paper)
? The Executive Meeting of the State Council Proposed the Promotion and Regulation of the Development of the Cruise Industry for the First Time
? Four Cruise Liners Simultaneously Berthed at the International Passenger Transport Center of Shanghai Port in North Bund
? Central Government Permits Mainland Tourists to Take Cruise Tours from Hong Kong to Taiwan
? Qingdao Developed China's First Overall Plan for the Development of the Cruise Economy
? 10 Cities of China, Japan and South Korea Will Be Connected by Cruise Routes
? The Ministry of Transport Released a New Policy on Allowing Foreign Cruise Liners to Berth at Multiple Ports in China upon Special Permissions
? The 4th China Cruise Industry Development Summit 2009 & The 1st International Cruise Expo Held in Sanya
? The Project "Research on Policies for the Development of the Cross-strait Cruise Industry" Officially Passed the Examination by Experts from Four Ministries
? The State Council Issued the "Opinions on Speeding up the Development of the Tourism Industry" and "Several Opinions on Promoting the Construction and Development of Hainan into an International Tourism Island" to Encourage the Vigorous Development of Cruise Tourism