Viking banks on Chinese travelers to sustain cruising fortunes

Rising demand for high-end river cruises from Chinese travelers will be the mainstay and account for 7 to 8 percent of the total cruising business of US-based cruising firm Viking Cruises by 2020, a top company official said on Tuesday.

Jeff Dash, executive vice-president of Viking Cruises, said that the firm is looking to build on its joint venture with China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings Co Ltd, a unit of State-owned China Merchants Group. The two sides had in April decided to team up to bring global cruises to the Chinese market.

"We want to build the greatest Chinese cruise line here. We are actually in a detailed process of forming the joint venture. It is something that we are absolutely pushing forward as fast as we can," said Dash.