China Resumes Cruise Tourism

First Cruise Ship Route After COVID-19 Is the South China Sea
Warnings of COVID-19 Spread Risks Emerge Everywhere

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] China has resumed cruise tourism after 11 months since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

According to China's Global Times on the 10th, the cruise ship Nanhai Dream set sail the day before toward the Paracel Islands (Chinese name: Xisha Islands, Vietnamese name: Hoang Sa Islands), a disputed territory in the South China Sea.

The 4-day Nanhai Dream cruise tour costs between 4,880 and 26,800 yuan (approximately 810,000 to 4,460,000 KRW) per person, depending on the cabin.

The Global Times reported that most of the cruise packages for December are already fully booked.

For quarantine purposes, passengers must submit a negative nucleic acid test result issued within 7 days. Only people coming from China's low-risk COVID-19 areas are allowed to board, and they must also undergo a fever check.

Initially, only up to 50% of the passenger capacity will be allowed, and if there are no issues after two weeks of operation, this will be increased to 70%.

However, concerns remain about resuming cruise tourism, which carries a high risk of spreading infectious diseases, amid the global COVID-19 pandemic and sporadic infections continuing throughout China.

Professor Yang Zhan-chu of Wuhan University's Virus Research Institute expressed concern, saying, "Since passengers live and dine together in shared spaces on the same ship for several days, if an infection occurs, the consequences could be severe and even tragic."

Wang Jianmin, a researcher at the Tourism Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that although the cruise industry has suffered great losses due to COVID-19, the business should not rush to fully resume operations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.