Shanghai looks to tap buoyant growth in tourism market development

The launch of China's first cruise tourism development demonstration zone in Shanghai marked the emergence of a hundred-billion-yuan industry chain in the country, and it is only a matter of time before China becomes the largest cruise market in the world, experts said.

Getting the nod from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in July, Shanghai's northern Baoshan district unveiled its cruise tourism demonstration zone in October, which is set to tap the cross-industry cruise related business opportunities including tourism, consumption and business operation among others, according to a report in The-Paper.cn.

After rapid decade-long development, China has become the world's second-largest cruise market by passenger volume. In 2018, the country had 4.89 million cruise passenger trips, according to the green paper on China's cruise industry jointly published by Shanghai University of Engineering Science and Shanghai International Cruise Business Institute.