Passengers arrive back from a cruise ship at a port in Sanya, Hainan province, Jan 23, 2023. [Photo/VCG]

Sanya, Hainan province, aims to maintaining the tourism market's enthusiasm for cruises after the Spring Festival holiday.

The China Merchants Shekou Yidun cruise ship, carrying nearly 100 representatives of the tourism industry set sail from Shenzhen's Shekou Port in Guangdong province on Sunday and visited Sanya before returning to Shenzhen after completing an eight-day itinerary.

"Increasing numbers of people choose to take a cruise to Sanya, as it is a leisurely, elegant and luxurious way to travel," Wang Ying, a representative of the Sanya Tourism Promotion Board, said of the unique charm of going to Sanya by sea at a tourism promotion conference on Monday.

Sanya will join hands with neighboring cities and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions to explore multi-destination cruise tour products, so as to share sources, construct a whole chain for the cruise industry and develop cruise-based industrial clusters, according to the board.

With such ongoing efforts, cruise travel is expected to be transformed from a "niche tourism" sector to a "mass leisure" one.

This year, Sanya's cruise market has shown a strong recovery. According to data released on Thursday by the Sanya Maritime Safety Administration, travel during the Spring Festival season from Jan 7 to Feb 15, involved more than 16,000 cruise passengers, a year-on-year increase of 25.24 percent.

"Taking a cruise to Sanya was a brand new experience for me," said Li Yanmei, a Yidun passenger. "I'll consider bringing my family to experience this relaxing and fun tour next time."

To create a better environment for the cruise industry's development in Hainan, the provincial Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce and Maritime Safety Administration issued a notice on Thursday to strengthen supervision of pilot cruise operators to ensure that pilot cruise ships only engage in sea tours at Hainan's cruise ports.