Chinese develop taste for luxury cruises

With their deck shoes and swimsuits in tow, mainlanders are increasingly going on luxury cruises for short vacations, shelling out as much as 30,000 yuan (HK$38,000) for a five-day trip to places like South Korea and Japan.

Global cruise lines have responded by expanding their fleets in China, with two of the biggest names - Royal Caribbean and Carnival - expected to launch vessels on inaugural mainland voyages in the coming months. But the market faces challenges to growth, including government restrictions on how tickets are sold and extensive application procedures for docking rights.

Liu Zinan, Royal Caribbean's managing director for China and Asia, said international cruise operators previously saw little value in the mainland market. But the company was now seeing a "bandwagon effect".

"Apart from traditional customers, the elderly and their families, we have found more men and women aged between 25 and 35, who can afford luxuries, are showing interest in us," he said.

Royal Caribbean, which entered the mainland in 2010, is adding the 160,000-tonne Ovation of the Seas to its fleet next year, taking the total number of ships in the market to five.

Carnival is increasing its capacity by 140 per cent this year through its subsidiary Costa Cruise Lines, according to staff at its Shanghai office, where two of its ships are based. It expects its other ship in Tianjin to make 40 voyages this year, compared with eight last year.