China Tourism Group has announced that it will lead an initiative aimed at reviving the cruise ship market, which includes consolidating the management of the various brands launched so far in China. This is one of the numerous initiatives by the Dragon government aimed at consolidating sectors where it sees strong potential but believes performance is lagging.
In more detail, a new company called Huaxia, a subsidiary of China Tourism and China Cosco Shipping Group, has been launched, which will initially be responsible for managing five cruise ships. In recent days, a signing ceremony was held during which a new company called Star Cruises, a division of Huaxia for managing cruise ships, was also launched. China Tourism holds 35% of the new company, while Cosco and China Merchants each hold a stake of nearly 18%.
The consolidation operation involves four state-owned companies, including the cruise activities of Cosco, China Merchants Group, and China State Shipbuilding Corporation. The individual brands, including Adora Cruises, the company that manages the first large cruise ships built in China (with the support of Fincantieri), will continue their operations under the management of the new company. Adora is controlled by China State Shipbuilding after being originally started as a joint venture together with Carnival Corporation. The latter American corporation subsequently reduced its position, becoming only a minority investor in the brand launched in 2023, which took delivery of its first newbuild last year.
This combined management of brands will include a fleet composed of the ships Adora Magic City,Adora Mediterranea (ex Costa Mediterranea),Piano Land,Nanhai Dream and Adora Flora City, the latter still under construction. In total, an offering of approximately 16,000 berths which, according to China, will make this group the largest operator by passenger capacity in Asia.
The decision to merge the activities is seen as an efficiency-driven initiative to allow the company to consolidate overhead costs in managing cruise ships. According to the private news agency Caixin, the cruise sector in China continues to struggle with low ticket prices and an overall slow recovery after the pandemic.
China was the last major cruise market toresume operations after the pandemic. It did not allow the resumption of domestic cruise operations until 2023 and further delayed the return of foreign-flagged cruise ships managed by international brands to Chinese ports.
With this project, China Tourism Group aims to stimulate the growth of the cruise market as it prepares to take delivery of the second large cruise ship built in China. Adora Flora City was indeed launched earlier this year and its debut is expected by the end of 2026.
In addition to state-controlled companies, a first private cruise project has recently been launched in the People’s Republic.
The Tianjin Orient International Cruises brand in recent weeks has emerged as the buyer of the former Costa Magica ship, which in 2023 had been purchased by the Greek company Seajets. The ship is currently in the Suez Canal and is sailing towards the port of Singapore ahead of a delivery scheduled in China.
Tourism officials in China have observed that the number of cruise ship passengers who called at Chinese ports increased by 28% in the first nine months of 2025, exceeding 2 million passengers.
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