Cruise trips to the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea resumed on Wednesday, 11 months after being suspended due to the COVID-19 epidemic. In what is hailed as a significant boost to tourism recovery in the post-coronavirus era, the Nanhai Dream with over 280 passengers left Sanya, a resort city in south China's Hainan Province, on Wednesday afternoon. Another cruise ship, the Changle Gongzhu or Princess Changle, is scheduled to resume operations on Thursday, with some 220 passengers likely to be on board. The Xisha tour of each ship will last three nights and four days. Tourists will arrive at the Yongle Islands in the Xisha Islands, visiting Yinyu island and Quanfu island. Cabin rates for the trip range from over 4,000 yuan (about 612 U.S. dollars) to more than 30,000 yuan. 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. China will likely 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 the Cruise Lines International Association last year.
