Qingdao, in East China's Shandong province, aims to become a home port for Northeast Asian cruises by 2020, hosting 400 cruise ships per year.

A detailed implementation program of constructing the city as a pilot zone for national cruise liner tourism development was recently released by the Qingdao municipal government.

According to the implementation plan, the government will intensify policy support in the regional cruise industry, accelerate infrastructure construction of the Qingdao international cruise home port, diversify the cruise liner tourism product system and optimize the development environment.

Qingdao was announced as a pilot zone for national cruise liner tourism development in May, 2016, the fourth approved by the National Tourism Administration following Shanghai, Tianjin and Shenzhen.

Qingdao's international cruise home port was opened in May 2015, with nearly 60 cruise liners having used the port by the end of 2016.

The setup of the cruise liner tourism zone will promote the development of the regional cruise industry and further deepen international cooperation with Japan and South Korea, as well as strengthening ties with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, said officials from the city's tourism bureau, who also believe that the zone will help with the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and Blue Economy strategies.

The cruise industry is one of the robust growth engines of world tourism. As an international port city, worldwide trade hub and tourist destination in northern China with 730 kilometers of coastline, Qingdao has exceptional resources to develop its cruise tourism industry.

The coastal city has been dedicated in recent years to building itself into a cruise home port and international tourism distribution center to promote the local cruise industry.

Qingdao has set about training a number of specialized cruise business personnel and incubating enterprises to improve service to the cruise economy and support development projects, and has organized marketing locally and abroad to promote itself as China's most influential and famous international cruise home port.

The Qingdao international cruise home port. [Photo/cnss.com.cn]