(Economic Observation) Hainan's yachting industry is booming and the cruise industry hopes to "bloom in the dark"

　　China News Agency, Haikou, March 12 (Reporter Huang Yi) The cruise and yacht industry is an industry encouraged by the Hainan Free Trade Port. At the moment when the epidemic situation is repeated, the two fields of cruise ships and yachts have shown a "two layers of ice and fire". development trend.

　　In 2021, yacht tours in Hainan are very popular.

Taking a yacht for sightseeing and experiencing sea fishing, wake surfing and other marine recreational activities has become a popular choice for tourists. Related tourism products have been continuously enriched, and the yacht industry has entered the fast lane of development.

　　"The yacht space is small, it is not easy to form large-scale gatherings, and it is less affected by the epidemic." Hu Xiaoming, a special consultant of the Sanya Central Business District Administration and general manager of Hainan International Yacht Trading Co., Ltd., analyzed that after years of development, the threshold for yacht tourism has been greatly reduced. Tourists only need to pay a few hundred yuan to go out to sea. In addition, in recent years, new methods such as wake surfing have catered to the needs of young groups, and overseas tourism consumption has returned during the epidemic. "Yacht fever" is a matter of course.

　　Statistics from Sanya Yachting and Sailing Association show that by the end of 2021, the number of registered yachts in Sanya reached 945, a year-on-year increase of 52.1%; 323 new registered yachts were registered throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 202%; yachts went to sea 159,800 times, a year-on-year increase of 47% .

　　Against the backdrop of the boom in yachting, the cruise industry seems to be shrouded in gloom.

Due to the concentrated and closed environment of cruise ships, the number of tourists in the global cruise industry has dropped sharply under the influence of the epidemic, cruise lines have been suspended in large areas, and many cruise companies have gone bankrupt. The road to recovery is quite difficult.

　　The construction of Hainan Free Trade Port has brought new development opportunities to the cruise industry, but the rhythm has been disrupted by the epidemic.

It is understood that the cruise industry in Hainan is basically at a standstill, and currently only the cruise lines of Xisha have resumed operations.

　　The relevant person in charge of Hainan Strait Shipping Co., Ltd. introduced that although its "Changle Princess" ship, which is responsible for the Xisha tourism route, has a good market response, due to repeated epidemics, the passenger reception in 2021 has not recovered to the level before the epidemic in 2019.

　　In order to promote the development of the cruise industry under the normal circumstances of the epidemic, Hainan will innovate a number of systems to plan the future in 2021, allowing Chinese-funded cruise ships with flag of convenience to carry out pilot business of cruise upstream routes in Hainan, and allowing qualified foreign cruise ships to carry out multiple points in Hainan Free Trade Port. For the affiliated business, encourage financial institutions to support the construction of cruise yacht industry cluster parks and related public service facilities, and to innovate cruise yacht related financial products.

　　The "Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port" proposes to accelerate the development of Sanya into an international cruise home port, support the construction of a cruise tourism pilot area, and attract international cruise registration.

Under the "haze" of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, since 2020, a large number of leading enterprises have still been stationed in the central business district of Sanya.

At present, more than 80 cruise yacht companies have settled in this key free trade port park with cruise yachts as the leading industry.

　　"The industry's confidence in the cruise industry is very firm." Xiang Yu, director of the cruise and yacht industry division of the Sanya Central Business District Administration, said that the development prospects of the free trade port and Hainan's unique policy advantages are hugely attractive to enterprises.

　　"Everyone is looking forward to the resumption of the voyage," said Yu Zhijun, deputy general manager of Sanya Kaiyuan International Cruise Co., Ltd.

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