The Information Office of Shanghai Municipality held a press conference today (September 10). Su Ping, deputy head of Baoshan District, introduced development of Wusongkou International Cruise Port. Informa President Andrew Williams introduced the latest developments of the 2019 Seatrade Asia Pacific Cruise Conference to be held in Shanghai. Zhang Lin, deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, Zhang Qi, deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Cultural Tourism Bureau, and Shi Jianyong, chief researcher of the Shanghai International Cruise Economy Research Center, attended the conference and answered questions from reporters.

As China's cruise industry enters the second golden decade for development, the cruise economy is undergoing a key upgrade from “high-speed growth” to “high-quality development”. Shanghai successfully was approved to be the first China Cruise Tourism Development Demonstration Zone and will hold the Seatrade Asia Pacific Cruise Conference for the fourth consecutive year, further demonstrating Shanghai's status as a leader in China's cruise economy. With Wusongkou International Cruise Port, Baoshan combines the development of cruises with the whole region, and strives to build an international cruise city and form a 100 billion-class cruise industry chain.

I. The latest positioning of Baoshan: a more attractive international cruise city.

Baoshan District firmly grasps the opportunity of integration development in the Yangtze River Delta, a national strategy, firmly grasps the opportunity of the inclusion of Baoshan in Shanghai's construction of a world-class city of excellence, and firmly grasps the opportunity of Shanghai to accelerate the construction of a science and technology center with global influence. Focusing on the advantages of cruise ships, the specific development goals are clarified: to move towards a more glamorous international cruise city.

First, centering on cruise service innovation, improve the cruise passenger experience. In recent years, relying on the China Cruise Tourism Development Experimental Zone, with the support of transportation, cultural travel, port and other functional departments, Baoshan has built a series of innovative services around the cruise port home port together with port inspection units, such as “port customs clearance barcode” etc., effectively improving the efficiency of customs clearance at the cruise port. On this basis, we will accelerate the construction of “Smart Cruise Port” and create a “frictionless entry port” with world-class standards. At the same time, we will speed up the promotion of “cruise tickets” to the whole country in the face of market ills and cultural conflicts in cruise tourism, speed up the construction of "the cruise port duty-free shops", while continuing to hold "Cruise Culture China Tour", Visiting Port Welcome Ceremony and other activities, do a good job of programs in TV, radio and other media channel, to the majority of tourists and introduce to the publi the cruise tourism and spread the cruise culture, letting more people know about cruises, experience cruises and fall in love with cruise ships.

Second, the city will optimize the business environment and continue to build a 100 billion level industrial chain. In 2018, the Ministry of Transport and Shanghai government issued relevant documents to support and deepen the development of the cruise economy. Baoshan District issued specific implementation opinions which named “35 opinions on Baoshan Cruises” and each year spent no less than 100 million yuan to support the cruise economy. This year, combined with the policy operation last year, the 35 opinions were optimized. At present, Baoshan has established close cooperation relations with industry leaders such as China State Shipbuilding Corporation Ltd and MSC Cruises. It is expected to form a whole cruise industry chain covering the middle and lower chain of the country in the future and the scale of this industry chain will reach 100 billion yuan level in the future.

Third, the city will rebuild the riverside function and continue to build an international cruise city. After more than ten years of functional reshaping, Baoshan Riverside has been transformed and changed a lot. In the future, in accordance with high requirements for comprehensive development on both sides of the Huangpu River, the city will adhere to the high standards for the construction of the two sides of the Huangpu River in central area of the city, adhere to the “one blueprint in the end.” The city aims to create a more attractive international cruise city, further in the riverside area. We will improve and optimize the overall layout of functional facilities such as tourism and culture, speed up the construction of service industries such as commercial complexes with cruise features, create special business service carriers such as bonded display trading platforms and continuously form a high-quality commercial business environment.

In addition, the city will actively carry out the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, further accelerate the comprehensive development of waters around the cruise port, actively develop yachts, cruise ships and sailing projects, as well as promote the development of three projects, so that Baoshan Riverside will become a charming cruise riverside public space in Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta and in the country.

II. New mission of Shanghai: the creation of the first China Cruise Tourism Development Demonstration Zone.

In 2012, National Tourism Administration approved Shanghai to become China's first cruise development pilot zone. In the past seven years, the demonstration function and leading role of the zone have been widely recognized across the industry. In order to further promote the high-quality development of the cruise economy, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently officially approved Shanghai to set up the first China Cruise Tourism Development Demonstration Zone, and requested Shanghai to actively promote the policy innovation of the cruise industry, lead high-quality development of China's cruise economy and enhance related services. The city will create a national model for the high-quality development of the cruise economy, provide experience that can be replicated and play a role in the development of China's cruise tourism.

Baoshan District is based on the Wusongkou International Cruise Port, actively developing the cruise industry and promoting innovation in the cruise industry. In accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the main tasks of accelerating the creation of the first China Cruise Tourism Development Demonstration Zone was handed over to Baoshan. In the future, the city will focus on four aspects and promote the construction of demonstration zones. First, we will focus on the improvement of service and build a standard system for ports. Improve the cruise service by providing support; improve the leading position of cruise service through innovation supervision; improve the reputation of brand by creating standards; enhance the radiance of cruise service function by relying on the platform and strive to improve the cruise service. The city aims to build the world's leading cruise ship port to become the world's top three tourist visits.

Second, we will focus on the healthy development of the market and create a coordinated innovation system for cruise tourism. We will deepen the innovation of cruise tourism products and form a system of cruise tourism products with rich levels and distinctive features. We will accelerate the construction of cruise tourism destinations, promote the coordinated development of cruise tourism and regional tourism integration, develop inbound cruise routes and cruise destination products with rich connotations and distinct themes.

We will build China cruise data center, promote the construction of a national cruise ticket sales platform and establish a national ship ticket distribution system. We will improve the cruise market supervision system, strengthen the cruise market supervision linkage within the Yangtze River Delta area and widen cruise tourists' rights protection channels. We will strengthen cultural exchanges to serve the tourism diplomacy strategy, and further enhance the international influence of Asia-Pacific Cruise Conference and the Cruise Greenpaper.

Third, we will focus on the design and construction of cruise ships and build an ecological system of the whole cruise industry chain. Focusing on the independent design and construction of cruise ships and the development of local cruise fleet, we will strive to promote the construction of Shanghai CSSC International Cruise Industry Park, attract domestic and foreign cruise manufacturing supporting enterprises to the demonstration area, build cruise supporting industry platform, and cultivate local cruise repair industry clusters.

At the same time, we will endeavor to build a cruise enterprise headquarters with perfect service system and favorable policies to attract more regional headquarters and global operation centers of global cruise enterprises to settle down in Shanghai, promote the development of China-made cruise fleet, and enhance the output value of international cruise service trade.

Fourth, we will focus on institutional innovation and establish a high-quality cruise development policy system. We will continue to explore and innovate the policy system that supports the development of cruise economy, narrow the gap between developed countries and regions in terms of cruise policy and shipping market environment, provide policy innovation space for China's cruise economic development, promote high-quality development of the national cruise economy and lead the overall improvement of the whole industry.

Through the establishment of demonstration zones, Shanghai can better represent the country to participate in global cruise cooperation and competition, build a national model of high-quality cruise economic development, and enhance the ability to serve the national strategic development. We will strive to build a cruise hub port in the Asia-Pacific region, a world-class cruise home port and a cruise destination with global influence, as well as a headquarters base for cruise enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region and a cruise economic center with international influence.

III. About the Industry Fair on China and Asia-Pacific Cruise Industry: the Seatrade Asia-Pacific Cruise Conference 2019

The Seatrade Asia Pacific Cruise Conference has been successfully held for three consecutive years in Shanghai and this year, the conference will be held in Baoshan district from October 9 to 11. The Seatrade Asia-Pacific Cruise Conference (Shanghai), as one of the three A-level industry conferences (the other two are Seatrade International Cruise Conference and Seatrade European Cruise Conference), has extraordinary influence in the cruise sector.

With a theme of "Cruise City, Charming Capital", the conference will invite global cruise industry to discuss the development and prospects of the cruise market in the Asia-Pacific region.

Compared with the past conferences, the Seatrade Asia-Pacific Cruise Conference 2019 will be upgraded in the following three aspects. Firstly, it will be co-sponsored by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the Municipal Communications Commission and the Baoshan District Government, and will invite the local government and relevant ministries to act as the guiding units. Secondly, leaders of the world's major cruise companies have confirmed their participation in the conference, and leading domestic cruise industry enterprises such as China State Shipping Building Corporation (CSSC) and China Merchants Group will also attend. Thirdly, the content of the conference has been upgraded. In addition to the traditional forum, the conference will hold the unveiling ceremony of China (Shanghai) Cruise Tourism Development Demonstration Area, and issue the overall plan and three-year action plan of the demonstration area. Another highlight of this year is the Cruise Maritime Forum, which will conduct frank and professional discussions in the context of Wu Songkou's plan to introduce the world's largest luxury cruise Oasis V.