Recently, the National Immigration Administration has decided to fully implement the policy of visa-free entry for foreign tour groups on cruise ships in China's coastal provinces starting from May 15th. Foreign tour groups traveling on cruise ships, organized by domestic travel agencies, can enter China without visas through the cruise ports in 13 cities and stay in China's coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) as well as Beijing for a maximum period of no more than 15 days.

As early as 2016, the visa-free policy for cruise ship arrivals was piloted in Shanghai, and the scope of the visa-free policy has been further expanded this time to support the development of cruise tourism and facilitate the transit of foreign tourists who meet the conditions of China's transit visa-free policy by cruise ships.The cruise homeports of Guangzhou and Shenzhen have become new ports of application for China's visa-free transit policy, which will make it easier for international cruise passengers to enjoy more convenient services when they visit Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the future. Guangdong should seize the opportunity to promote the integrated development of city tourism and cruise homeports and actively embrace the "maritime gold industry".

Visa-free policy is favorable to the development of cruise economy and industry

At 7:30 a.m. on the 24th of May, the Bahamas "Mediterranean" cruise ship docked at Tianjin International Cruise Terminal. This is the first inbound cruise ship carrying a foreign tour group after the implementation of the visa-free entry policy for foreign tour groups traveling to China's coastal provinces by cruise ship on May 15th. Nearly 800 foreign travelers enjoyed the convenience brought by the new policy, and most of the foreign travelers' clearance time was only about one minute, enabling them to enter the country quickly and start their journey to China.

In the past, foreign travelers entering the country by cruise ship needed to fill out an entry card for foreigners, get their visas checked, provide their fingerprints and biological information, and stamp their entry inspection stamps, among other things. With the new entry policy, foreign tourists entering the country as part of a group can be exempted from filling in the entry card, keeping their fingerprints and biological information, and stamping the seal of inspection and receipt of entry. Consequently, the efficiency of customs clearance has been greatly improved. Similar scenes will also be seen in Guangdong's cruise home port.

Industry insiders believe that the expansion of the visa-free policy for cruise ships is undoubtedly beneficial for all ports where the policy applies.

Cruise tourism is known as the "golden industry at sea", covering consumer demand for accommodation, catering, and shopping, as well as industrial demand for port services and ship maintenance, providing a strong economic impetus for home port cities.

Guangzhou Nansha Cruise Home Port 

Within one to two days of a cruise call, thousands of tourists will be brought to visit the port city. Beyond land and air routes, cruise ships create additional space for the development of inbound tourism in coastal cities, expanding the opportunities for inbound tourism traffic. Data shows that the average annual growth rate of cruise travelers in Shanghai has reached 10 percent since the introduction of the cruise entry visa-free policy in the city in 2016.

This policy was piloted in 2016 and epitomizes the development of China's cruise industry. From 2006 onwards, international mainstream cruise companies have rushed to China's market. The period from 2006 to 2016 is known as the "golden decade" of China's cruise industry, with the average annual growth rate of China's cruise market exceeding 40%.

Guangdong is home to Guangzhou Nansha International Cruise Home Port and the Shenzhen Shekou Cruise Home Port, both of which are ports where China's visa-free transit policy applies. The two cruise homeports began operations around 2016.

As early as 2015, Nansha Port opened its first cruise line and began to operate as a temporary home port. From 2016 to January 2020, Nansha operated 418 inbound and outbound cruise trips, received 1,673,500 inbound and outbound passengers, and remained the third largest in the country in terms of the scale of cruise inbound and outbound passengers for four consecutive years. In November 2019, the Nansha International Cruise Terminal in Guangzhou was officially opened. With an estimated annual capacity of 750,000 passengers, it can accommodate the world's largest cruise ships at present.

Since its opening in November 2016, after eight years of development, Shenzhen Cruise Home Port has been selected as a national-level pilot project for service industry standardization. In 2019, Shenzhen Cruise Home Port had an annual passenger flow of more than 6.49 million passengers, with an annual inbound and outbound passenger flow of nearly 3.3 million, and an inbound and outbound flow of about 420,000 foreigners. As of the end of 2021, Shenzhen Cruise Home Port has served more than 1 million cruise tourists.

As the impact of the global epidemic subsides, international tourism has begun to recover, and the recovery of cruise tourism is particularly rapid.

By the end of 2021, the number of cruise tourists served by Shenzhen's home port exceeded one million. In 2024, the number of global cruise tourists will reach 34.13 million, showing a continuous growth trend. Expanding the scope of the visa-free policy for cruise entry is conducive to promoting the development of China's cruise economy and cruise industry, as well as promoting exchanges between Chinese and foreign personnel, creating more development opportunities.

"Visa-free entry for international cruise ships is a very positive signal of openness. At the same time, this will also play a driving role for the local market to choose cruise as a mode of tourism and travel, and the relaxed and leisurely travel mode of cruise is becoming more and more popular among domestic tourists," said Yao Qiaoling, General Manager of Shenzhen CITS Dongguan Branch and Head of New Vision Dongguan - Global Cruise Center.