Overseas cruise ship giant taps into Chinese cruise tourism market

More overseas cruise ships will be based in China, and Chinese cruise ship passengers will enjoy a visa-free policy when traveling to South Korea and Japan.

The world's second-largest cruise line operator, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCL), is based in Miami, Florida, in the United States. It established a strategic partnership with China International Travel Service Limited (CITS), which is China's largest travel agency. They cosponsored a six-month-long "Cruise Ship Week" beginning on April 12 in the city of Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

In 2014, RCL joined hands with Ctrip.com International Ltd, China's largest online travel agency, to build a cruise ship company. It also announced lately that it will deploy its third ship in the Quantum Class, Ovation of the Seas, in China in April 2016. The ship will become RCL's fifth ship to be based in Asia.

Carnival Corporation & PLC, the world's largest cruise operator based in Miami, Florida, in the United States, has also developed cruise businesses with China Merchants Group. They plan to work together to found a joint venture company.

China's ports are also providing convenience to tourists, including Tianjin International Cruise Home Port that is in operation; Qingdao International Cruise Home Port that will open in May 2015; and the long-awaited Prince Bay Cruise Home Port that is still under construction in Shenzhen, Guangdong.

Wang Ting, vice-president of Guangdong branch of CITS, said that South Korea and Japan have issued a visa-free policy to Chinese cruise ship passengers. She also added that the number of Chinese cruise ship passengers traveling abroad, according to statistics of CITS, are expected to exceed one million in 2015.