HNA Tourism Cruise, China’s domestic cruise operator, has announced that its ship Henna will sail on new itineraries to Taiwan and Japan next year. Alan Lam reports.

From 29 March 2015, the ship will begin sailing on Xiamen-Taiwan route and from 9 April 2015 a Shanghai-Taiwan-Japan cruise will also be launched.

HNA has only just resumed operation from Tianjin lastsummer, after its ship was detained in Jeju in September 2013. This new expansion means the company’s only ship will soon operate from three main cruise terminalsin Mainland China. 

As the demand continues to grow rapidly, it is notunreasonable to speculate that the company may soon be, if not already, looking at a second vessel. Clearly any decision on such a move will need to take into consideration of the existing and emerging competitions.

Aside from offerings by other international cruise lines,such as Royal Caribbean International, Star Cruises and Costa Crociere, competitions from China’s domestic operators such as Bohai Ferry and the emerging SkySea Cruises cannot be underestimated.

Besides South Korea, Taiwan and Japan continue to be the main international destinations for China’s rapidly expanding cruise tourism.These destinations are ideal for short itineraries that currently dominate Chinese cruise scene. 

Earlier this month, a delegation from Taiwan, comprised of cruise experts and port representatives, visited Beijing in an effort to promote cruise tourism between the two sides. Despite apreviousrefusal by the Taiwanese authority, China and Taiwan are about to announce a 72-hour visa free visit for cruise passengers.