Royal Caribbean to resume China cruises, marking the end of COVID
Royal Caribbean Group, the world's second-largest cruise company, plans to sail back to China next April after more than three years of suspended service during the pandemic.
The cruise operator completed its international cruise itineraries for 2024 in China; Royal Caribbean told Caixin on Monday. The Spectrum of the Seas, its Quantum-Ultra-class cruise ship, will return to Shanghai in April, the company said.
During the May 1 Labor Day holiday next year, the cruise ship will depart from Shanghai for trips to neighbouring countries lasting five to eight days. Customers can use the company's official website, WeChat mini program and call centres for route inquiries and booking services starting July this year, Royal Caribbean said.
The Spectrum of the Seas is a luxury cruise ship specially designed for the China market. It has 168,000 gross tonnage and 2,124 cabins for 5,064 guests. Royal Caribbean deployed the Spectrum of the Seas to the China market in 2019, carrying more than 230,000 passengers between June and December that year in 48 trips, according to the company.
Liu Zinan, Royal Caribbean senior vice president and Asia region chairman, said the company received many customer inquiries since January about the schedule of service resumption linking China and international destinations.
Before the pandemic, China was the world's second-largest source of customers for global cruise operators. In 2018, Chinese cruise passengers reached 2.19 million, representing half of the Asia-Pacific market. The region accounted for nearly 60% of the global cruise market before the pandemic.
Global cruise operators docked their ships in early 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world. Some of the earliest mass COVID outbreaks occurred on cruise ships, leading to an effective global suspension of the industry.
Since 2022, cruise services have resumed in many parts of the world as the outbreaks waned. But it was not until late March this year that Chinese authorities outlined plans for cruise companies to resume services in the country following the abandonment of three years of strict border controls.
Global cruise giants have been moving slowly to resume services in China due to the complexity of international cruise route arrangements, an industry source said. Based on the recovery experience of the European and American cruise markets, global cruise companies typically require six to 12 months to complete necessary procedures, including route deployment, vessel mobilization, marketing launch and operational readiness, once policy conditions are in place, the person said.
Meanwhile, some remaining policy curbs on international travel that were introduced since the pandemic are holding back the relaunch of international cruise routes, the source said.
Chinese cruise operator CM-Viking, a joint venture of China Merchants Group and Viking Cruises, in late March, relaunched routes departing from Shanghai and Shenzhen to Japan. CSSC Carnival Cruise Shipping, a joint venture between China State Shipbuilding and Carnival Corp., scheduled its first China departure from Shanghai to Okinawa in late July.
The pandemic hurt the cruise industry badly. Costa Cruises, a unit of the world's largest cruise company Carnival, in October 2022 announced an exit from the Asian market, closing stops on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and South Korea.
Business is reviving as the world recovers from the pandemic. In the first quarter, Royal Caribbean had more than 18 million passengers globally, up 145.8% yearly and exceeding the pre-pandemic level.
According to data from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, the international cruise industry and related businesses made an overall economic contribution of 35.8 billion yuan ($5.1 billion) to China in 2019.
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