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Cruise tourism resumes in China's Xisha Islands
Last Updated: 2020-12-10 00:24 | Xinhua
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Cruise trips to the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea resumed Wednesday 11 months after being suspended due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Nanhai Dream with over 280 passengers left Sanya, a resort city in south China's Hainan Province, on Wednesday afternoon.

The other cruise ship, the Changle Gongzhu or Princess Changle, is scheduled to resume operations on Thursday with some 220 passengers expected to be on board.

Dong Yan and Wang Xiaoyu, a couple from northeast China's Liaoning Province, were among the first group of tourists on the Nanhai Dream. "We heard that the Xisha Islands have been opened to tourists for a long time and its scenery is unique, so we decided to visit the place," Dong said.

The Xisha tour of each ship will last three nights and four days. Tourists will sail to the Yongle Islands in the Xisha Islands, visiting Yinyu island and Quanfu island.

The cabin price for the trip ranges from over 4,000 yuan (about 612 U.S. dollars) to more than 30,000 yuan.

The Nanhai Dream can accommodate 721 people and the Princess Changle can carry 466 travelers, but as part of precautions against COVID-19, the number of passengers on the cruise liners has been capped at 50 percent of full capacity. The limit can be increased to 70 percent after two weeks of operation if anti-virus measures prove effective.

Passengers are required to provide a negative nucleic acid test report conducted within seven days before boarding. They will also have their body temperatures checked three times a day during the trip.

Cruise tourism to the Xisha Islands started in 2013 and was suspended in January following the coronavirus outbreak.

China is expected to grow into the world's largest cruise market by 2030, with 8 to 10 million customers per year, according to figures by the Shanghai International Shipping Institute.

In 2018, China dominated the passenger share of Asia's cruise market, contributing more than 70 percent of the region's 4.24 million passengers, according to data released by Cruise Lines International Association last year. Enditem

(Editor:Fu Bo)

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Cruise tourism resumes in China's Xisha Islands
Source:Xinhua | 2020-12-10 00:24
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