“Genoa: a hub for Chinese cruises”

Genoa - Even as the city of Shanghai considers the port of Genoa, it maintains its search for a port of reference in Europe, one to act as a home port for cruise ships, which, according to Chinese government plans, in the coming years will depart Shanghai bound for Europe. And, preferably, one located in the Mediterranean. The project being set up by Beijing is, for the moment, still in the early stages, but, yesterday, Hang Chun Fan, Shanghai Regional Tourism Councillor, at the head of a delegation, met with Admiral Giovanni Pettorino, commissioner of the port of Genoa, in Palazzo San Giorgio. The encounter was followed shortly afterwards by a meeting with the leaders of Genoa’s Maritime Station. A simple exchange of information, and pleasantries, at least in appearance. During the exchange held in the Port Authority headquarters, however, the fact emerged that the Chinese government has placed emphasis on boosting China’s cruise tourism sector in the coming years, a country with tens of millions of potential passengers.

Specifically, the port of Shanghai seems to have set a goal of operating up to 400 cruise ships per year by 2020. Some of which, said Mr. Fan, would be bound for Europe, while others would navigate predominantly in Asian waters. The head of the Chinese delegation, representing the biggest city in the world - nearly 25 million people - also met in Genoa with high-ranking representatives of MSC and Costa Cruises, before taking an exhaustive tour of the port, and later moving on to Savona to continue the fact-finding mission. July 2006 marks the moment when the ship Costa Allegra called at the port of Hong Kong, thereby opening China’s market to mass cruise tourism. Fast forward ten years to May of this year as MSC Opera enters Shanghai harbour: it marked the beginning of an increasingly significant presence in the Asian country for MSC. The totally upgraded vessel, having undergone the “Renaissance Program”, carries a predominantly Chinese crew, able to offer services in Mandarin to its guests.