By Zhou JianWang Xiaoyi
Wusong Wharf in Baoshan District always has been the important waterway hub of Shanghai. With the constant development of city construction and upgrade of industrial structure in Shanghai, Wusong International Cruise Port has become the globally well-known international cruise passenger terminal. Relying on its unique waterway advantage and accurate industry orientation, Baoshan District powered by“International Cruise” is forming the industrial model with distinctive regional features.“Baoshan District has cruise economy. Shanghai made a good start at‘Four Brands’ with a complete coverage of Baoshan District.” Su Ping, a member of the standing committee of the district commission and the deputy head of Baoshan District in Shanghai who was in charge of comprehensive economic and cruise economic work in Baoshan, passionately introduced Baoshan’s consideration and measures of cruise economy.
International Cruise Port of Wusong Wharf Occupied the Half of National Passenger Capacity
Shanghai Wusong International Cruise Port, located in Yangtze River estuary in Baoshan District, started construction in 2008. From the port opening in 2010 to 2017, the average annual growth rates of the voyage number of cruises reception and tourists reception were 50.7% and 59.8% respectively.
Shanghai Wusong International Cruise Port occupied 91% of the voyage number of cruises of Shanghai Harbor and 97.9% of tourists in 2017, 39.4% of the national voyage number of cruises, and 58.8% of the number of tourists. The prosperity of Shanghai Wusong International Cruise Port represented the prosperity of Chinese cruise industry, so to speak.
Meanwhile, Shanghai Wusong International Cruise Port has become the first in many aspects of Chinese cruise industry: in 2012, over 10 thousand tun cruises docked for the first time, leading Chinese cruises to get into“Great Ship Era”; in 2014, the number of tourists exceeded that of Singapore, leading Asian cruises to enter“China Time”. Shanghai Wusong International Cruise Port has become the international cruise home port, ranking the first in Asia and the fourth in the world.
At present, the top five cruise companies in the world have come to China. Su Ping introduced that global cruise industry has entered the time designed for Chinese market from 2017 in order to better adapt to Chinese market,“large cruise companies have been aimed at Chinese market and highlighted Chinese elements, such as Norwegian Joy and Majestic Princess, since they constructed the ships.”
Cruise market becomes mature step by step and the tourists quality improves level by level
Honestly speaking, Chinese cruise market has not been mature enough, which meant both opportunity and challenge for the development of industry in Baoshan District.“On the whole, the formative period of domestic market is still short——only 6 years——the development is still immature. Domestic tourists’ comprehension and acceptance of cruise travel are quite different from that of foreign tourists. For example, foreign tourists consider cruise as the destination of the tour, while Chinese tourists consider cruise as a means of transportation more.” Su Ping thought that the difference in consumption concept led to the lower penetration rate and head-turning rate of Chinese cruise travel than the European market. Statistics show that the penetration rate of American cruise is 7%, while that of Chinese cruise is lower than 1%.“If only foreign tourists recognize the service standard, characteristics and cooking culture of a cruise, they would firmly believe in this cruise and take it repeatedly, however, Chinese tourists wouldn’t like to take the same cruise, so the head-turning rate is quite low.”
In addition, the sales model of steamer ticket was different from overseas. The cruise company and travel agency adopted China-specific chartered boat system. For the full rate, the travel agency will arrange a clearance sale in the later period, which resulted in the decline of price and the uneven quality of tourists. In order to further optimize market, from quantitative change to qualitative change, many cruise companies reduced the transportation capability in China this year based on the market feedback. According to the incomplete statistics, the transportation capability of Shanghai Harbor was reduced by 20%, Tianjin Harbor was reduced by almost 40%, and the National Harbor was reduced by 20%. However, after the reduction, the number of tourists didn’t be influenced so much, and the ticket price of the first quarter of this year increased steadily instead. What’s more, tourists’ consumption capability also improved. The cruise companies and travel agencies were all satisfied.
“Even though without the intervene of government, the government is in duty bound to guide the healthy development of market.” Su Ping pointed out that the change of Shanghai cruise market from high speed to high quality is delightful.
300 million yuan industrial support funding invested in 3 Years, cruise economic development accelerated
Developing cruise economy is the consensus of all circles of Shanghai.
On April 16th this year, Li Qiang, a member of the Communist Party's Politburo and Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Secretary, conducted the field visit and research at Shanghai Wusong International Cruise Port, and he demanded the uniformed standard of the first-class cruise home port in the world and Shanghai’s brand in cruise field.
On November 30th 2017, Ying Yong, Shanghai Deputy Party Secretary and mayor, conducted a research in Baoshan District and pointed out that cruise economy was the new engine of economic and social transformation and development in Baoshan District, and the overall planning of upstream, middle stream and downstream industry should be strengthened and the high-level cruise economic industry chain should be created, as the municipal government gave full support to Baoshan District to expand, strengthen and optimize the cruise industry.
On April 24th this year, Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal government held a meeting to start and promote“Four Brands”. Li Qiang the municipal party secretary emphasized that the radiance of“Shanghai Service” should be increased, the reputation of“Shanghai Made” should be manifested, the experience of“Shanghai Shopping” should be optimized, and the identification of“Shanghai culture” should be shown to enlarge, internationalize and expand the influence of“Four Brands”.
“Cruise industry is the epitome of service, production, shopping and culture,” Su Ping said happily that with the advantage of Shanghai Wusong International Cruise Port, Baoshan District which was completely covered by the“Four Brands” started by Shanghai has met the new historical opportunity.
It was known that Suggestions on Advancing the Cruise Economic Development in Baoshan District has been published, and the specific policy measures included: creating the cruise enterprise headquarter with global influence, constructing the cruise home port with global competitiveness, building a highland of cruise economy development of the whole industrial chain, promote both the integration of industry and city and the interactive development of district and port, as well as optimizing business environment of cruise economy development.
Starting from this year, the financial arrangement for supporting the development of cruise economy in Baoshan District shall be no less than one hundred million yuan every year. The first round was arranged as three years, with the total amount of no less than three hundred million yuan. As for the matters with great significance and effect which were identified by Baoshan District Committee and District government can acquire the policy and financial support by approval according to the“one case one meeting” principle.
Developing industry chain and achieving“Chinese Great Ship Dream”
The economic benefit of cruise home ports is 8-10 times that of ports of call and ports of visit. As the global cruise home port, Shanghai Harbor was able to form a complete industrial chain.
The Upstream of cruise industrial chain is production and maintenance. As China has already been a shipbuilding nation, the cruise industry must improve the system integration capabilities. What’s more, the supply chain was supposed to be complemented to provide all the components and parts for cruises.
The midstream of cruise supply chain included tourism, finance and train, etc. Baoshan District has benefited from that, tourists from other provinces and cities came to Baoshan District in advance to wait for sailing, the consumption like accommodation and shopping there therefore increased the tourist income of Baoshan District; the cruise company’s recruitment of waiters would benefit the training industry as it promoted the appearance of cruise colleges and majors.
The downstream of cruise industry chain provided the cruise supplies. In Shanghai, cruise company purchased globally before, but now about 50% of goods can be purchased locally. The cruise companies expressed their willingness to purchase 100% of commodity, food, food material and even the duty-free goods in Shanghai.
“Developing the industrial chain is the power of developing cruise industry,” Su Ping emphasized that the continuing development of cruise industry still can create cruise culture for Baoshan District. The deputy head has been on a tour of investigation of Italian cruise city, and the cruise harbor has been integrated into the urban landscape and citizen life, for example, the Italian opera instead of ship whistle when the cruise left the port was intoxicating.
Su Ping was in deep love with cruise. He sat with his back against the closet occupying the whole wall. In the center placed a cruise model.“Possessing the shipbuilding conditions, Shanghai will definitely make Chinese great ship dream come true.” He laughed that this dream might not be achieved during his term, but the large cruise will be the pride of Chinese people just like high speed rail and large aircraft.
（Investment Promotion）
