Cruise travel getting into people's life in China

17 Jun 2013 2049 | World Travel News

SHANGHAI – Wanda Plaza in Baoshan (Shanghai) went through a busy weekend by holding the “Cruise Products Promotion Fair”. Most of the major travel agencies had opened consulting desks for the citizens’ inquiries about cruise travel products and the large crowd of people coming along showed their passions for this newly-raised travel form.

2013 is declared to be “Year of Marine Tourism” in China, several port cities such as Haikou, Shanghai, Tianjin, etc. have therefore been focusing on developing and promoting their cruise travel products respectively. “Cruise Products Promotion Fair” is one of the events held during the “Shanghai 2013 Cruise Travel Festival”.

Director of Baoshan Tourism Bureau, Yan Lilun said “Our purpose is to raise people’s awareness and interests of marine tourism, attract them to learn more about cruise products by providing series of promotional activities and so far, it seems to work.”

By the end of the first day of the fair, there were thousands of residents coming for information and among which, over two thousand had become prospective customers. Most people had more or less acquired knowledge on cruise travel and products through this event.

Simply during the festival, there had been over ten cruises heading to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan from Baoshan port with more than fifty thousand tourists all over the country beginning their journey on those giant ships. Early during the World Travel Fair (WTF), which was held in the middle of May, 2.5 million sales were completed on cruise products, contributing 18% to the total volume. Reasons given by customers who chose cruise travel could be sorted as “great value of money”, “affordable by ordinary citizens”, “new experience”, “relaxed journey”, “fed up with flights”, etc.

Pointed by Director of Shanghai Tourism Bureau, Yang Jinsong, “the level of facilities, services as well as the supply of human resources should catch up with the pace of the improvement of cruise travel correspondingly.”

Sourced: TravelDailyNews