BEIJING – According to the?China cruise & yacht industry association?(CCYIA), China?s cruise market capacity has increased greatly in 2012.
Mainland China received international cruise ships 285 times over the year, which was an 8.8% increase compared with last year; the number of visitors by cruise was 660,000, which was a 31.9% increase. Of the 285 international cruises, 170 set off from Chinese harbour cities, which was a 19.7% increase on the previous year.
A total of 420,000 Chinese visitors from the cruise made exit or entry . 115 international cruises arrived at Chinese harbour cities, which decreased by 4.2%, and from the cruise 24,000 international visiters exited or entered the Customs. For the cruise market, Korean lines welcomed the most Chinese tourists. The Vietnamese cruise packages were the cheapest and the Alaskan ones were the most expensive.
Compared with the international visitors? preference for 6-8-day-trips, Chinese tourists tended to choose a mid period cruise which lasts for 4-7 days. The balcony rooms were the most popular with the China market, at a cost of around 5000 RMB.