The 14th China Cruise Shipping Conference & International Cruise Expo was held from November 15th to 17th in Guangzhou. It attracted more than 600 representatives from the government departments as well as cruise related associations and enterprises from home and abroad.

With the theme of “Maritime Silk Road’s cruises set sail from Guangzhou”, this year’s conference included various sessions such as the policy forum, president forum and cruise maintenance forum. It also witnessed the opening ceremony of the Nansha International Cruise Port which will be the largest cruise port nationwide once started operation.

Lin Daoping, Vice Mayor of Guangzhou, said the launch of the Nansha cruise port indicates that the development of the city’s cruise industry has started a new chapter. Guangzhou will dedicate to communicate and cooperate with different stakeholders of the business and show the world its potential to develop the industry.

Guangzhou’s cruise business has been rapidly growing in recent year, and the scale of its international cruise business has ranked third for three consecutive years since 2016. The city received 74 cruises and more than 375 thousand inbound and outbound passengers from January to October this year.

International cruise lines such as Dream Cruises have been operating 9 routes to 12 destinations including Chinese Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, making it a cruise port with one of the largest numbers of cruise lines to South East Asia nationwide.

The conference also invited CEOs of the major cruise companies including the Royal Caribbean and Costa to share their opinion on the cruise development in the Greater Bay Area. They also shed insight into their companies’ arrangement on seizing the opportunities in the Area.

Roger Chen, Chairman in Asia of Carnival Cooperation &plc, said, the launch of the Nansha cruise port will contribute to an industrial cluster in South China together with Xiamen, Shenzhen and Sanya. The company has got quite a lot arrangement in all of the four cities. “We are very positive about the new cruise port in Nansha. In fact, we have been already operating a cruise line here and we expect more in the future.”

Reported by Jasmine

Edited by Keane