Shanghai aims to ride the waves of the cruise tourism economy by further tapping the potential as the city is set to welcome nearly 26 million cruise passengers by 2022, said a report released today by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
“Shanghai has made great progress in the past decade in developing the cruise economy, bucking the global trend when this relatively new type of tourism was hit by the economic downturn,” said Li Xiaonian, director of the Maritime Silk Road Research Center under the SASS.
Ranked as the biggest cruise port in Asia and the fourth largest in the world, Shanghai saw 512 cruise ships depart or dock at the city’s three ports last year, receiving 2.97 million visitors. The volume accounted for 43.3 percent of China’s total.
The city is expected to handle 25.7 million people on cruises by 2022, according to the report.
Global cruise giants including Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean and MSC Cruises have made Shanghai their port of call.
Shanghai set up a joint venture last year between China State Shipbuilding Corp Ltd and Italy’s Fincantieri to build China’s first cruise ship in 2023, according to the report.
