A few days ago, with the gradual warming of the cruise economy at home and abroad, Xiamen, as the frontier of opening to the outside world, felt the great impetus brought by the cruise industry to the tourism industry. In order to attract more cruise ships to dock, Xiamen will be built into an "international seaside tourist city" and "the home port of world cruise ships" will become the goal of future development.
Any cruise ship can call at any time.
Lure a phoenix into a golden nest. In 2002, after several years of active preparation and planning, the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government officially launched the construction of Xiamen International Cruise Center (Xiamen Golden Passenger Terminal). In 2006, an international cruise center with many leading functions at home and abroad was officially put into use. The International Cruise Center, with a total investment of 600 million yuan and a construction area of 87,000 square meters, consists of a passenger terminal and a joint inspection building. The coastline of the main wharf is 463 meters, and the front depth is-12.4 meters, which can berth140,000-ton large cruise ships. The joint inspection building, with a total construction area of about 8 1 1,000 square meters, is designed according to the standards of the first-class international passenger station, with an annual passenger throughput of10.5 million passengers and 3000 peak passengers. The first floor is the parking lot, luggage handling room, equipment room area and supporting businesses. The second floor is the passenger entry-exit joint inspection hall, equipped with an outdoor pick-up platform; The third floor is a leisure dining area for passengers to rest and wait. In this regard, Ye Chonggeng, deputy mayor of Xiamen Municipal Government, confidently said, "There is no problem for cruise ships from any country to call at Xiamen Port."
At the same time, the supporting project of the International Cruise Center, International Cruise City, is also under construction. Upon completion, the International Cruise City will become the first seaport new city in China to connect with the cruise economy. International Cruise City covers an area of 654.38+10,000 square meters, covering various property forms such as international cruise center, top-class office buildings, super five-star hotels, boutique shopping centers and high-end residences.
The area where the International Cruise City is located is planned to develop into an important port commercial center on the west side of the Taiwan Strait, integrating port, shipping, logistics, finance, trade and tourism. Since most of the guests coming and going come from all over the world, from the very beginning, the International Cruise City was defined as a project that will be turned into the metropolis center of Xiwan International Port, making it a city with dense business and cultural circulation. It is conceivable that with the completion of this series of projects, Xiamen will create a brand-new lifestyle with the ocean as the background and the interactive leisure vacation between land and sea as the connotation, and move the cruise life to the shore.
At present, there are more cruise ships than overnight.
Liu Cigui, mayor of Xiamen, said that Xiamen's tourism industry is currently developing into a high-end tourism industry represented by the cruise economy. In addition to building a modern cruise terminal that can receive the world's largest cruise ship, it will also vigorously promote the investigation of supporting policies to adapt to cruise tourism and continuously strengthen the development and expansion of the cruise market.
In September 2006, with the concern of Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, China International Travel Service (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. was jointly established by China International Travel Service Head Office, Xiamen Port Holding Group and Xiamen Tourism Group to take charge of the cruise reception. The agency has long maintained friendly relations with major cruise companies around the world. Up to now, it has successfully received the Dutch luxury international cruise ship "Stedam", the American maritime cruise company's ultra-luxury cruise ship "God of Shipping" and the Star Cruises "Aquarius Star" and "Libra Star", and accumulated rich reception experience.
They are full of expectations for the future. According to a person in charge of a travel agency, the number of cruise ships in Xiamen has increased greatly in recent years. From 200 1 to 2006, * * received 272,330 international cruise passengers with the number of flights 162. In 2007, it received passengers 10, 27,646 passengers and 22 flights. However, at present, the cruise ship stops in Xiamen for a short time and basically does not stay overnight. In view of the characteristics of "short time and large flow" of cruise guests, they generally only arrange guests to go to nearby scenic spots, such as Gulangyu Island and Nanputuo, which will bring great pressure to traffic and service. However, they believe that with the further opening of the policy and the further expansion of the scope of communication, cruise ships can stop for more time, provide better services and provide more routes and products for tourists to choose from.
"2008 is the peak of the arrival of international cruise ships. Xiamen is conditional and should grab a market. " Cai, general manager of Xiamen Port Group Peace Travel Passenger Transport Co., Ltd., revealed that with the arrival of the 2008 Olympic Games, it is bound to attract cruise ships from all over the world to dock. "Xiamen Port should also actively prepare for this market."
China will become an important emerging market of global cruise economy.
A few days ago, at the "2007 China Cruise Yacht Development Conference" concluded in Xiamen, the executives of the three major cruise giants in the world, the representatives of China 1 1 coastal port cities, and the heads of relevant state ministries and commissions described the blueprint for the development of cruise yacht economy in China.
Cruise economy refers to an economic phenomenon formed by relying on the development of modern cruise tourism and promoting the development of related industries (shipbuilding, maintenance, ports, modern service industries, etc.). ). The cruise economy was first born in North America in 1960s, and quickly became a hot spot of world economic growth after 1980s. Since 1980, the international cruise industry has developed at an average rate of more than 8%, which has become the biggest highlight of the development of international tourism.
According to the statistics of the World Tourism Organization, the income of each international tourist is 740 dollars, while the income of cruise reception is as high as 134 1 dollar per person. According to the calculation of the Cruise Yacht Branch of China Communications and Transportation Association, the cruise reception income in China this year is about 240 million US dollars, accounting for only 1.3% of the total global industry income, and the huge market has yet to be developed into a * * * knowledge.
The conference sent a clear signal that China's cruise economy will usher in a brand-new development opportunity. According to the National Coastal Port Layout Plan issued by the Ministry of Communications and the National Development and Reform Commission, five large-scale, intensive and modern cruise ships and passenger port groups will be built along the coast of China. At the same time, coastal cities including Xiamen are also actively preparing for the arrival of the cruise economy. Five cruise reception areas have been formed, and a number of international and modern ports, docks and supporting facilities are under planning and construction. Ye Jian, president of China Port Association, predicted that in the near future, China will become an emerging market and an important market for the global cruise economy.