It is learned that the recent Symposium on International Cruise Economy 2009 Shanghai China organized by SISI received great media attention. The first "China Cruise Market Development Research Report" released by SISI has evoked strong responses and covered extensively by media reports, including TravelDaily (www.traveldaily.cn), a professional and influential website for the tourism industry.

TravelDaily (http://www.traveldaily.cn) is a professional tourism information website of China, covering in an all-round way any important news and events about national and global tourism industry, with a view to providing in-depth, professional and forward-looking news information and industrial analysis for professionals in the airline and tourism industries. The latest traffic statistics of TravelDaily as of May 30, 2009 recorded an average daily visits of 14,000 dedicated IPs, over 76,000 page reviews per day, 16,000 registered individual members, and more than 25,000 e-newsletter subscribers. According to the authoritative ranking stats released by Alexa, TravelDaily.cn ranks 53,338th globally and 4,493rd nationally for the recent three months. It has gradually developed into an Internet information medium that is domestically best known and specially designed for middle- and high-end professionals in the tourism industry.

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Cruise Tourism: Potential Highlight of China's Tourism Industry

As predicted by International tourism organizations, China will become the world's top tourist destination and the fourth largest tourist source by 2020. Along with the repaid growth in the tourism industry arrives the development opportunity for China's cruise economy.
Released publicly at the recent Symposium on International Cruise Economy 2009 Shanghai China, the first "China Cruise Market Development Research Report" (the Report) delivers a detailed research and analysis of the environment, scale, characteristics and constraints on development of China's cruise market, and takes a look into its future.

The Opportunity for China's Cruise Economy is Approaching

It is reported that, with an average annual growth of 8% since the end of the last century, cruise tourism has developed into the fastest growing sector in the world tourism market. In 2008, there were about 17 million person-times in the world taking cruise tours. Despite a 1.5% trim from the 2007 level in North American cruise source market as weighted down by the financial crisis, the number of global cruise passengers still saw a 4% YoY increase. According to a forecast by Seatrade, the number of global cruise tourists will reach 30 million person-times in 2020.

The Report argues that China's cruise market is still in its infancy, with a business model focused on the construction and improvement of shore-based facilities of cruise ports, as well as the reception of foreign cruise liners. In addition, the outbound cruise tourism market is still in the early cultivation stage. On the basis of five port clusters in the Bohai Rim, Yangtze River Delta, southeast coastal region, Pearl River Delta and southwest coastal region, China's cruise market has begun to take shape, with central cruise ports in cities such as Tianjin, Shanghai, Xiamen and Sanya.

Though receiving less cruise liners than other well developed cruise ports in the world, China has maintained a high growth in recent years. According to incomplete statistics, in 2008, the number of international cruise liners berthing at Chinese ports increased by 27.4%, with altogether 344 cruise liners visiting Chinese coastal ports; Qingdao Port even hit a growth rate of over 300%. The completion of several coastal cruise terminals in the future is bound to bring more cruise liners to China.

According to the Report, the Port of Shanghai and Port of Sanya have received far more international cruise liners than other ports, with growth rates reaching 17% and 11% in 2008 respectively. International tourism organizations predict that China will become the world's top tourist destination and the fourth largest tourist source by 2020. Along with the repaid growth in the tourism industry arrives the development opportunity for China's cruise economy.

Multiple Constraints on the Development of China's Cruise Market

As analyzed by the Report, the current development of China's cruise market is facing institutional and technical constraints.

The institutional constraints lie partially in the under-normalized port management systems. The main problems in port management are the lack of detailed provisions governing cruise liners and the complexity of customs formalities. Another constraint is the obstacles in setting up operational organizations. Presently in China, all cruise lines are required to conduct business through qualified travel agencies; however, only 20% of the US tourists choose travel agencies while 80% directly through cruise lines. Therefore, it is senseless for international cruise lines to set up operational organizations in China.

As for technical constraints, taxes and charges in the industry are yet to be standardized. Currently, in China, the port charges for cruise lines are far higher than the neighboring countries and regions, featuring large variations among ports and inconspicuous differences between passenger ships and cargo ships. Secondly, port construction also requires unified management. The infrastructure of domestic port cities fails to meet the needs of international cruise liners, especially large ones. The coastal areas are vigorously developing the cruise economy and have proposed the building plans for cruise homeports. However, considering the huge construction costs of cruise homeports, related far-reaching impacts, lack of guidance by relevant state departments on cruise homeport construction, redundant construction, vicious competition, and other inevitable issues, the construction of cruise ports needs to be brought under unified management at the national level. Thirdly, public service facilities are yet to be improved. China's cruise ports are incapable of communicating with the surrounding areas to create a strong transport network, or realizing seamless connection among all means of transportation. Fourthly, the cruise travel agency industry are  yet to be improved due to the lack of noble cruise culture and high-precision cruise products. Lastly, the education for cruise professionals needs to be synchronized with the development of the industry. China still lacks authoritative cruise personnel training institutions and excellent cruise qualification and certification systems.