Battered international cruise operators are keenly awaiting the reopening of the Chinese market. They’re going to have to wait a little longer.
China is set to resume cruises in December, as its economy revives and the pandemic remains largely under control. The catch is the international cruise lines that spent the past decade building the market from scratch aren’t invited to the party.
With standard cruise routes from China to destinations such as Japan and Vietnam shut down by global travel restrictions, the country is tiptoeing back in with cruises to nowhere that start and finish in the sunny southern Chinese resort island of Hainan with no stops in between.
The government awarded the first permit to ply that route to Astro Ocean International Cruise Co. Ltd., a joint venture between two state-owned juggernauts. International operators such as Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Group , which would need an exemption from Chinese laws that ban foreign vessels from doing business between the country’s ports, haven’t been given approval to sail.
Zinan Liu, chairman of Royal Caribbean Asia, said he expects mainland Chinese ports to be among the last in Asia to reopen to foreign-flagged cruise ships, which have already been allowed to sail in Singapore and Taiwan. Among China’s main concerns, Mr. Liu said, is the risk of importing the virus through travel.
