This afternoon, Viking Cruises' "China Explorer" route officially set sail at the Shanghai Port International Passenger Terminal on the North Bund. The route is a high-end cruise tourism project along China's coast for European and American guests, operated by the first naturalized Chinese luxury ocean cruise ship "China Merchants Eden", with Shanghai and Shenzhen as its home ports, passing through Zhoushan, Wenzhou Dongtou, Fuzhou Pingtan and Xiamen ports. From September to November, the route will offer eight sailings, showcasing the unique Chinese landscape to the world. See ↓ for details
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Under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, the Information Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government and the Hongkou District People's Government, as well as the co-organization of the Hongkou District Culture and Tourism Bureau and China Merchants Viking Cruises, the opening of the route not only injected new development opportunities into China's cruise tourism industry, but also promoted the "China Tour" to become one of the international travel trends, together with the continuous relaxation of China's visa-free policy and the gradual improvement of supporting policies such as optimizing entry facilitation.
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Write a new chapter in the history of Hongkou shipping
Hongkou, named after the port of Hongkou, has a long history of shipping, and in the mid-19th century, Hongkou became one of the important shipping terminals in Shanghai. With the passage of time, Hongkou Shipping has continued to grow and witness, witnessing the changes of the shipping industry in Shanghai and even in China. Today, Hongkou North Bund has gathered more than 4,600 shipping enterprises and nearly 40 domestic and foreign functional institutions, and has become one of the regions with the largest concentration of shipping enterprises, the most obvious headquarters characteristics, the most complete shipping elements and the most complete industrial elements in Chinese mainland.
The development of this route aims to rely on this route to improve the development of regional tourism economy and foreign-related services. Through the shore experience provided by Viking Cruises and the on-board services containing Chinese culture, the scenery and cultural charm of Hongkou and even China will be shown to international passengers, and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries will be promoted, contributing to "telling Chinese stories well". At the same time, the launch of the route will also help Hongkou District to further improve the service level of the port, promote the facilitation of customs clearance at the cruise port, and promote the development of the cruise economy.
02
Establish an international-friendly consumption environment
The North Bund International Passenger Terminal has attracted many passengers on the first voyage of the "China Exploration Tour" with its local characteristics and intangible cultural heritage market. Carefully planned by the District Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the bazaar provides intangible cultural heritage and characteristic experiences such as Chinese paper-cutting art, wood carving, and batik, vividly demonstrating the charm of ancient Chinese crafts.
During the event, City News Service (CNS), a one-stop external information service platform in Shanghai, officially settled in China Merchants Eden. Hosted by the Information Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government and undertaken by Shanghai Daily, CNS focuses on providing expats with practical information such as policy interpretation, government services, and life guides. This time, CNS will provide foreign tourists with travel and consumption information services in Shanghai through multiple channels such as Yidun Daily, leaflets, electronic screens, and guest room TV systems on the cruise ship, so as to help them understand Shanghai and China in the first time.
At the same time, Shanghai Travel Card Development Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Jiushi Group, released the Shanghai Pass co-branded travel card product for cruise foreign tourists. After the card is pre-deposited with cash, it can be used for payment in various consumption scenarios such as public transportation, cultural and tourism venues, shopping malls and supermarkets in the city, saving the trouble of small payment and change, and further improving the payment convenience of international tourists. The card can also be used in the field of public transportation in more than 330 cities in China except Shanghai, including Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Chengdu, Sanya, Kunming and other major tourist cities.
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03
The cruise economy helps high-quality development
Last year, focusing on the three strategic goals of high-quality life, high-quality development and high-efficiency governance, Hongkou District issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for the High-quality Development of the Cruise Economy in Hongkou District (2023-2025)" and supporting special policies, focusing on building a shipping headquarters economy with the linkage operation of "boutique cruises, river cruises, and leisure yachts", and promoting the North Bund to become an important showcase for Chinese-style modernization.
Since the beginning of this year, the cruise atmosphere of the North Bund has become increasingly strong, including Europa, Seven Seas Explorer, visiting port cruise ship "Atania", home port cruise ship "China Merchants Eden", Yangtze River river cruise ship "Century Legend", Silversea Phantom, "Blue Dream Song" and other cruise ships have chosen to dock at the North Bund.
This time, as the first inbound cruise tourism project in China's coastal area, the "China Explorer" route chose the North Bund as its home port, starting from Hongkou to show China's folk customs, history and culture to the world in an all-round way, taking the lead in exploring and releasing the development potential of China's inbound tourism market, and promoting the integration of "cruise + cultural tourism" to "break the problem and get out of the circle". At the same time, as an important part of the warm-up activities of the 35th Shanghai Tourism Festival, the launch of this route also opened a wonderful cultural and tourism feast.
In the future, Hongkou District will continue to focus on improving the service level of the port, continue to promote the facilitation of customs clearance at cruise ports, expand more onshore tourism experience projects, realize the deep integration of "cruise + cultural tourism", and jointly write a new chapter in the high-quality development of cruise tourism.