Global EditionASIA 中文雙語(yǔ)Fran?ais
Business
Home / Business / Industries

Cruise operators on course for golden age

By Wang Ying in Shanghai | China Daily | Updated: 2018-07-24 09:12
Share
Share - WeChat
A cruise ship docks at the terminal in Wusongkou, Shanghai. [Photo by Yin Liqin/China News Service]

China's cruise market, the world's fastest growing, is undergoing a capacity adjustment, which is hoped will guide it back onto the right course and benefit both operators and consumers, said industry experts.

As the cruise travel market enters its peak season, vessels operating out of domestic ports are decreasing. According to the voyage plans published by major cruise brands, the number of such vessels in operation in China this year is 11, down 38 percent from 18 last year, China Transportation News Network reported.

"In past years, the Chinese cruise market saw a rapid increase with the annual growth rate reaching 40 percent. However, we have witnessed an obvious slowdown since last year, when the growth rate was less than 20 percent for the first time," said Cherry Wang, vice-president and general manager of Princess Cruises China.

Since entering the China market in 2014, Princess Cruises has accommodated nearly 700,000 Chinese passengers and expanded to three ports - Shanghai, Tianjin, and Xiamen in Fujian province - in three years. "The Chinese cruise market saw soaring growth of similar products by almost all global cruise operators trying to expand their business here, and in order to compete with each other, ticket prices nose-dived from 20 percent higher than sophisticated markets such as Europe and the United States, to between 30 percent and 40 percent lower," said Cheng Juehao, deputy professor at Shanghai Maritime University and deputy head of the Shanghai International Shipping Institute Cruise Economy Research Center.

As a result, operators are finding it difficult to remain profitable, and customer experience is being sacrificed due to low expenditure.

"Cruise travel during the summer holiday has always been popular, and to date, we have already seen more than 50 percent growth in reservations compared with the annual average," said Liu Xiaolyu, head of the cruise division at Ctrip, China's biggest online travel agency.

According to Liu, there is rising demand for tailor-made itineraries, as people are willing to pay more for an enriched experience.

"For example, the number of customers willing to pay extra money for shore excursions has tripled this year," she said.

Whilst its counterparts are cutting their China deployment, Costa is doing the opposite with plans to introduce two tailor-made ships in 2019 and 2020 to the China market, according to Mario Zanetti, president of Costa Group Asia. The brand introduced cruising to China in 2006, and it currently takes up 26 percent of China's cruise market.

"We have seen a great increase in the Chinese fly cruise market. For instance, the number of Chinese passengers who cruised with us to Alaska, Northern Europe and Southeast Asia increased rapidly in the first half of this year," Wang said.

Wang believes the Chinese fly cruise market offers great potential. Chinese travelers are demanding more from their international luxury cruise experiences, and the number of those who chose fly cruise itineraries increased rapidly last year.

Since launching its fly cruise to China in 2016, Cunard has discovered strong demand from highend cruise passengers, most of whom are aged above 50 and live in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province and Chengdu in Sichuan province, the luxury cruise line said in an email response.

Cheng said the recent market adjustment will benefit both cruise operators and cruise passengers. "Operators will only be able to offer customers quality products and stay profitable if traveling costs return to those of 2012 and 2013. This is best for the industry."

China's cruise market handled a total of 4.96 million passenger trips last year, and is expected to grow to 5.7 million passenger trips this year, according to the China Cruise & Yacht Industry Association.

Since the launch of its first domestic cruise port in 2006, to date, China has created eight international cruise ports in Shanghai, Tianjin, Xiamen, Sanya in Hainan province, Qingdao in Shandong province, Zhoushan in Zhejiang province and Shenzhen.

Passenger trips will surpass 20 million by 2030, creating a cruise industry with a market value of about 2 trillion yuan ($295 billion), Hou Yunchun, former deputy director of Development Research Center under the State Council, was quoted as saying by Economic Daily.

Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
CLOSE
 
主站蜘蛛池模板: 天堂在线最新资源| 亚洲人成色在线观看| 亚洲精品熟女国产| 亚洲一区二区三区高清视频| 久久棈精品久久久久久噜噜 | 日韩视频免费看| 精品日韩二区三区精品视频| 理论片午午伦夜理片影院99| 欧美乱人伦中文在线观看不卡| 日本久久久免费高清| 天堂中文字幕在线观看| 国产最新在线视频| 再一深点灬舒服灬太大了视频| 亚洲免费视频一区二区三区| 中文无码字幕中文有码字幕| 97精品人妻系列无码人妻 | 2018在线观看| 老师好紧开裆蕾丝内裤小说| 欧美日韩成人午夜免费| 日本一道本高清| 国产精品黄大片在线播放| 国产va免费精品观看精品| 亚洲欧洲精品一区二区三区| 中文字幕理论电影理论片| 1024手机看片基地| 精品久久久无码人妻中文字幕豆芽 | 又粗又长又黄又爽视频| 交换朋友夫妇2| 久久国产精品99精品国产| 182tv精品视频在线播放| 精品国产国产综合精品| 日韩福利小视频| 国产美女爽到喷出水来视频| 又粗又黄又猛又爽大片免费| 久久精品亚洲欧美va| 2018天天弄| 浪荡女天天不停挨cao日常视频| 成人午夜性a一级毛片美女| 国产伦精品一区二区| 五福影院最新地址| 91无套极品外围在线播放|