The cruise ship EUROPA 2 with approximately 500 foreign tourists arrived at its homeport in Qingdao's Shibei district on March 1. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The cruise ship EUROPA 2 with approximately 500 foreign tourists arrived at its homeport in Qingdao's Shibei district on March 1, officially kicking off the 2025 cruise tourism season in Qingdao.

The EUROPA 2 is an upgraded version of the EUROPA cruise ship that visited Qingdao last year, with comprehensive upgrades in ship tonnage, passenger capacity, facilities, and more.

To ensure the smooth docking of the EUROPA 2 and enhance tourists' experiences, the Qingdao government optimized customs clearance procedures, improved traffic guidance, and designed brochure routes for touring Qingdao. Six featured onshore tour routes were introduced, covering classic sites such as the Dabaodao tourism and leisure block, the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, Laoshan Mountain, Zhanqiao Pier, and the Tsingtao Beer Museum.

This year, the Qingdao Cruise Homeport is expected to receive over 40 cruise voyages, doubling the number from 2024. In addition to the EUROPA 2, the first five-star Red Flag cruise ship, the Zhaoshang Yidun will visit Qingdao eight times, with an expected total of over 10,000 inbound and outbound cruise passengers. Adora Magic City, the nation's first domestically built cruise ship, will also set sail from Qingdao in April for a coastal cruise along China, further solidifying Qingdao's position as a hub for northern cruises.

In 2024, Qingdao received 442,200 inbound tourists, which represented a 97.3 percent year-on-year increase and ranked it sixth among 15 sub-provincial cities. Since this year, as of Feb 26, the number of foreign tourists entering through airport border control reached 74,900, marking a 51.39 percent year-on-year increase. Among them, there were 50,500 tourists from South Korea, showing a 59.08 percent year-on-year growth.