Cruise Tourism

1. Construction of the cruise home port

Nansha International Cruise Home Port Complex Project is one of the biggest cruise home ports in China. The first phase of the project covers a shoreline of 770 meters; with two berths capable of accommodating 100,000-ton and 225,000-ton cruise ships respectively; and a 3,5000 sq m terminal building, which is expected to have a customs clearance capacity of 4000 passengers per hour (a total of 750,000 passengers per year). The home port is projected to be completed by June 2019 and put into operation in October 2019.

Nansha International Cruise Home Port [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Nansha berth for cruise ships, which is currently a temporary port, replaced a former container terminal operated by Guangzhou Port Group. The port, located at the Longxue Island Container Phase III Terminal, is equipped with a waiting hall, an inspection hall, a tourist information center and 16 self-service channels, which are expected to keep customs clearance time for each passenger within 5 seconds.

2. Cruise schedules and cruise lines 

Since the first operation of the cruise project in January 2016, a total of 326,000 passengers carried by 104 ships have entered or exited China by the end of the year. This declared the entry of Nansha into the first-tier cities in China in respect of cruise industry, which formerly only included Shanghai and Tianjin. In 2017, the annual number of in-bound and out-bound cruises reached 122, a year-on-year increase of 17.31 percent; the number of passengers received also reached 403,500, a year-on-year increase of 23.8 percent, ranking third among other cruise ports in China. The first quarter of 2018 has seen a passenger volume of 106,000, the second highest in China. Nansha port has also become a vital site for domestic cruise tourism development.

Cruise lines [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Ships including Star Cruise's SuperStar Virgo, Dream Cruise's Genting Dream and World Dream, and Costa Cruise's Victoria successively berthed at Nansha port since the port began to operate in 2016. From then on, nine cruise lines have been opened, leading to 12 destinations, including Hong Kong, Naha, Okinawa, Miyako Island, Yaeyama Islands, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Da Nang, Halong Bay, Manila, Boracay and Subic Bay. 

3. Policy measures for cruise industry development

Nansha government has been actively working on the proposal of building a cruise tourism development pilot zone in Nansha (Guangzhou, China). It formulated a plan regarding the construction of Nansha (Guangzhou, China) Cruise Tourism Development Pilot Zone and submitted it to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. To promote the development of cruise tourism in Nansha, the local government has continued to introduce supporting policies. It issued the document of Several Measures to Promote Cruise Tourism in Nansha in 2018. Two other regulations, Supporting Measures for Cruise Tourism Development in Guangzhou Nansha New Area (Free Trade Zone) and Supporting Measures for the Development of Tourism Industry in Guangzhou Nansha New Area (Free Trade Zone), were also formulated and incorporated in the "1+1+10" industrial policy system. The latter one has been issued and put into force. 

4. Improving cruise tourism services 

The construction of a digitalized home port has been promoted. The number of self-service channels has been increased from the initial six to 16, along with the upgrading and updating of intelligent customs clearance system. Now over 50 percent of passengers pass through customs via self-service channels, with clearance time less than five seconds per person under normal conditions. In the waiting hall of the International Cruise Home port in Guangzhou, there is a tourist information center, where a series of help-providing activities were held. To provide better tourist experience, a special waiting hall was set up at the Sunflower Garden.

5. Nansha Cruise - World Dream

Nansha cruise [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

After gaining in-depth insight into the Asian cruise tourism market during the last two decades and its expertise in operating luxury cruises, Genting Hong Kong Limited has added to its cruise line brand list a new member – Dream Cruise. As the first Asian luxury cruise line, Dream Cruise aims at the high-end cruise market in China and other Asian countries and regions. World Dream, the second luxury cruise ship of the cruise line, made its maiden voyage from Nansha port in November 2017, which was seen as yet another step forward for the cruise tourism of Nansha. The cruise trips have now become a name card of Nansha's tourism industry. Dream World has a tonnage of 151,300 tons. It is 18 decks tall and has up to 1686 rooms. Below are cruise lines that depart from Nansha port: 

1. Okinawa & Naha & Miyako Island (Japan Cruise)

Departure period: From today until November 25

Duration: 5 nights

Itinerary: Nansha – Naha – Miyako Island – Nansha

2. Da Nang & Halong Bay (Vietnam Cruise)

Departure period: From today until November 18

Duration: 5 nights

Itinerary: Nansha – Da Nang – Halong Bay – Nansha

3. Enjoy-Your-Weekend Cruise (Hong Kong Cruise)

Duration: 2 nights

Itinerary: Nansha – Hong Kong – Nansha