Hong Kong Cruise Economy Strong Recovery "Three Engines" to Show Results

　　China News Service, Hong Kong, March 19th - Title: Hong Kong's Cruise Economy Strongly Recovers, "Three Engines" Show Effectiveness

　　China News Service Reporter Dai Xiaotong

　　The Hong Kong Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau expects that in March, there will be more than 20 cruise ship visits to Hong Kong.

　　Victoria Harbour is once again experiencing busy times. Official data shows that in the first two months of 2026, Hong Kong has received 52 cruise ship visits and over 180,000 passengers. With the strong recovery of the cruise economy, the intensive visits of large cruise ships are testing the port's capacity and operational efficiency. Hong Kong is leveraging the "three engines" of policy support, regional cooperation, and navigation services to promote high-quality development of the cruise economy.

　　Policy Support: Building an International Cruise Hub in Asia

　　The key focus of policy support is to attract regular stops by international cruise ships. The Hong Kong SAR government's new fiscal budget announced this year states that the Hong Kong Tourism Board will further attract more international cruise ships to include Hong Kong in their itineraries. The previously released "Hong Kong Tourism Development Blueprint 2.0" and "Cruise Tourism Development Action Plan" also clearly state that the government's vision is to make Hong Kong an international cruise hub in Asia.

　　Hong Kong's appeal as an international cruise hub is increasing. Royal Caribbean International recently announced that the "Spectrum of the Seas" will arrive in Hong Kong on November 1st to begin homeport operations and will return to Shanghai on January 19th, 2027. This 169,000-ton cruise ship can carry over 5,600 passengers, and in the previous sailing season, over 32% of its passengers on voyages longer than two nights came from international markets such as North America, Europe, and Australia.

　　In January this year, the luxury cruise ship Luminara, under an international top brand, visited Hong Kong for the first time and operated voyages with Hong Kong as the departure port. Hong Kong SAR Government's Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Luo Shupei, stated that this highlights the diversified development of Hong Kong's cruise tourism.

　　Hong Kong SAR Legislative Council member Yao Pak-leung stated that the large customer base of approximately 80 million people in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, combined with Hong Kong's advantage as an international aviation hub, are key reasons for international cruise companies to continue their presence in Hong Kong.

　　Regional Cooperation: Strengthening Collaboration to Enhance Competitiveness

　　Hong Kong is also actively promoting the regional cruise tourism linkage development. Recently, the "Star Pisces" cruise ship under Star Cruises set sail from Tsim Sha Tsui Pier in Hong Kong to Sanya, Hainan. This cruise ship will primarily use Hong Kong as its homeport in 2026, with plans to operate 18 voyages on the Hong Kong to Sanya route from February to August, creating a regular maritime corridor connecting Hong Kong and the Hainan Free Trade Port.

　　Tan Jin-qiu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the Hong Kong Friendship Association, believes that this route is an important entry point for Hong Kong's cruise industry to integrate into the new development pattern of domestic circulation as the mainstay, with domestic and international circulations promoting each other. Hong Kong has outstanding advantages in international customer sources and shipping services, while Hainan benefits from favorable policies such as the Free Trade Port. The two regions complement each other and work together to effectively enhance the overall competitiveness of regional cruise tourism.

　　Navigation Services: Optimizing Measures to Ensure Operations

　　In terms of optimizing navigation services, Hong Kong has recently introduced several measures. For example, starting from March 4th, Hong Kong implemented the "Regularization of Cruise Use of Central Harbour Navigation" arrangement, allowing designated cruise ships docking at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal to freely enter and exit Victoria Harbour through central navigation from 6 PM to 6 AM the next day without prior application. On March 14th, the first cruise ship under the new regulations, "Celebrity Apex," arrived in Hong Kong, allowing passengers to enjoy the sunset over Victoria Harbour and the city skyline on their departure journey.

　　The Hong Kong SAR Government's Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau stated that cruise passengers visiting Hong Kong participating in shore excursions and special activities will drive economic benefits for the local retail and catering industries. Cruise expenditures in Hong Kong, such as arranging passenger transportation connections, cruise supplies, docking fees, hiring ground staff, and shore consumption by crew members on leave, all inject momentum into Hong Kong's economy.

　　In addition, the Hong Kong government has launched a new round of operator tenders for the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, which expires in May 2028. This terminal is specifically built for docking large cruise ships, and considering that international cruise ships plan their itineraries at least two years in advance, completing the tender process early can ensure the terminal's long-term stable operation, allowing new operators to arrange cruise docking as soon as possible.

　　Yao Pak-leung stated that he believes Hong Kong will continue to introduce favorable policies in the future to attract international cruise ships to use Hong Kong as their homeport. The industry looks forward to the entry of domestically produced large cruise ships into Hong Kong, while actively relying on China's mainland visa-free policies, among others, to develop multi-stop tourism. (End)