According to China Cruise Market Development Research Report published by the Cruise Economy Institute under SISI, Chinese residents of developed central cities, represented by Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, have begun to accepted cruise vacations as a new tour after years of trials and learning. Therefore, Cruise tourism is gradually coming into vogue in China.

This market trend is manifested by Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruises setting up offices in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and other cities, enhancing deployment of cruise liners and shipping capacity, and frequent market management such as marketing.

According to expert analysis, the development of cruise tourism in China is relatively slow, greatly due to the tourism consumption concept inherently embedded in Chinese people’s minds in addition to the underdeveloped tourist systems and facilities. Chinese people take tours more purposively than Europeans and Americans. Many people think it is more worthy to spend a few days visiting multiple attractions around one destination. In recent years, as a variety of overseas luxury cruise liners visiting China, many people have changed their consumption concepts. At the same time, some cruise liners have incorporate recreation facilities at the stern, as well as Chinese restaurants and Asian gourmet restaurants, in order to cater to Asian preferences.

Incomplete statistics from Costa Cruises show that Chinese tourists taking outbound cruise tours are mostly from central cities of coastal areas such as Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and the Pearl River Delta.

Experts believe that the young and middle-aged are the major consumer group of Chinese cruise market. With relative economic independence and higher living requirements, they are the backbone of the current and future society. By contrast, the Chinese elderly enjoys far lower economic strength than its foreign peer, pursuing more tranquil and comfortable lives; they are too nostalgic to accept new things. However, family-based cruise tours may encourage them to become the second largest group of cruise consumption.

Many cruise salesmen from travel agencies held that cruise tours are most suitable for honeymoons, friend tours, family tours and company incentive tours. It is said that, hundreds of Chinese tourists have engaged in "Rhapsody of the Seas" via SCITS alone since April 2008, the majority of which are families around the age of 40. On the cruise liner, there are not only elderly friendly facilities, but also adult/child-specific facilities and activities. Cruise tour has therefore become a new option for family holidays.

Presently, cruise tour as a special award is catching more and more attention from brand enterprises. Having meetings and getting rewarded on the vast expanse of the sea can be a rare experience for staff. The principal of Royal Caribbean Cruises said incentive tours for corporate clients are also a rapidly developing market. Since this March, a Beijing-based company has organized 12,000 marketers aboard Royal Caribbean cruise liners in 9 groups for 7-day and 6-night cruise tours to Taiwan.

Source: Hainan Daily, November 7, 2009