Several Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Development of Cruise Economy

(Adopted at the 26th Session of the Standing Committee of the 16th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on December 30, 2025)

Article 1

With a view to advancing high-quality development of the cruise economy in this Municipality, fostering integration of the entire cruise industry chains, improving and strengthening the marine-led industries, and promoting the building of a regional cruise economy center in the Asia-Pacific area with global resource allocation capabilities, these Provisions are formulated in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative regulations, and in light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality .

Article 2

The development of the cruise economy in this Municipality shall adhere to the principles of market dominance with government guidance, integration of advantages and coordinative advancement, safety first, and green development, strengthen innovation-driven growth, promote regional collaboration and international cooperation, and establish a cruise economy development model comprising hub ports, headquarter ports, and manufacturing ports.

Article 3

The Municipal People's Government strengthens its leadership over the work of promoting development of the cruise economy within this Municipality, leverages the coordinating mechanisms for cruise service support, deepens collaboration with the relevant national departments, promotes the introduction of the relevant supportive policies, and coordinatively resolves the major issues that cross departmental, industrial, and sectoral boundaries.

The people's governments of the relevant districts establish and improve management mechanisms for cruise service support, implement their responsibilities within their respective districts, and effectively carry out the work related to promoting development of the cruise economy within their respective administrative regions.

Article 4

The department of culture and tourism is responsible for such works as cultivating the cruise tourism market and regulating the industry, guiding the development and promotion of cruise tourism products, and enhancing the quality of cruise tourism services.

The department of commerce is responsible for such works as administering and providing services for the cruise ports, fostering the cruise headquarters economy, and promoting cruise-related consumption.

The department of transportation is responsible for such works as administering the planning, construction, and operation of cruise ports, and guiding the development of cruise routes.

The department of economy and informatization is responsible for such works as promoting the design, construction, maintenance, and transformation of cruise ships.

The departments of development and reform, finance, human resources and social security, local finance, cyberspace administration, market regulation, statistics, public security, meteorology, and the other relevant departments are responsible for carrying out the work related to promoting the development of the cruise economy in accordance with their respective responsibilities.

The departments of maritime affairs, customs, immigration administration, and the other relevant departments are responsible for carrying out such works as ensuring safety of cruise navigation and optimizing customs clearance procedures in accordance with the provisions of the State.

Article 5

Cruise-related industry organizations shall protect the lawful rights and interests of the industry and their members, strengthen self-discipline and integrity of, standardize the order of, and promote exchanges within the industry, and facilitate fair competition and orderly development in the cruise sector.

Article 6

This Municipality promotes development of a demonstration zone of the Chinese cruise tourism, establishes and improves a management model and institutional system to foster the growth of cruise tourism, stimulates market vitality, and builds an internationally influential cruise tourism destination.

The municipal department of culture and tourism will, in conjunction with the relevant departments and the people's governments of the relevant districts, actively seek national pilot policies for priority implementation and strengthen innovation in making cruise industry policies.

Article 7

This Municipality strengthens the development of its cruise hub port and encourages the cruise lines to develop international cruise routes of various ship types and voyage durations, taking Shanghai as their home port and port of departure.

This Municipality promotes the orderly development of cruise routes for foreign-flagged cruise ships to call at multiple ports within China, encouraging such ships operating on international routes to consecutively call at two or more domestic cruise ports, including Shanghai.

This Municipality explores pilot programs for "cruises to nowhere" routes, encouraging international cruise ships to take Shanghai as their port of departure for sea cruises within the approved waters, without calling at any ports during the voyage, and returning to the original port of departure.

Article 8

The cruise lines, travel agencies, and other relevant enterprises are encouraged to enhance the supply of cruise tourism products, develop diverse and multi-tiered cruise tourism routes, enrich consumption scenarios integrating multiple business formats, improve onboard consumption service functions, and optimize shore excursion experiences.

This Municipality develops integrated tourism products combining air-sea, land-sea, and river-sea transportation, and promotes cruise consumption models that combine cruise travel with airplanes, high-speed rail, inland river cruise ships, and the other transportation modes.

Article 9

The cruise lines are encouraged to broaden sales channels for cruise tickets and promote multi-type ticket sales models, including direct sales and agency sales. The department of transportation shall strengthen the management of cruise tickets and advance the improvement of related administrative systems.

The travel agencies are encouraged to offer package-priced cruise tourism products that include transportation, accommodation, catering, and sightseeing. The department of culture and tourism shall strengthen guidance thereon.

The department of market regulation investigates and penalizes false advertising and other illegal activities in ticket sales in accordance with law.

Article 10

This Municipality develops inbound cruise tourism and strengthens the construction and promotion of cruise tourism destinations. The cruise lines are encouraged to operate multi-homeport itineraries, increase the number of cruise ship calls at the port, and attract more overseas tourists to enter the country by cruise.

Article 11

In accordance with the relevant national provisions and under the premise of ensuring safety, the departments of maritime affairs, transportation, immigration administration, and the other relevant departments implement priority entry and departure guarantee measures for cruise ships, promote the improvement of pilotage services, establish and improve joint inspection systems, and enhance the level of service for cruise port navigation. The department of maritime affairs, in conjunction with the departments of meteorological, transportation, and the other relevant departments, improves the guarantee mechanism for cruise ship passage under special weather conditions. The department of Yangtze River estuary waterway administration strengthens comprehensive management and technical research of the Yangtze River Estuary waterway, advances the construction of the waterway system, and ensures waterway transit capacity.

Article 12

The meteorological stations affiliated with the municipal or district-level meteorological authorities shall increase the deployment of meteorological observation facilities in areas such as ports and waterways, advance the research, development, and application of weather control technologies such as fog dissipation, and provide professional meteorological services for cruise ship arrivals and departures.

Article 13

The departments of commerce, transportation, public security, and the other relevant departments will, with the support of the departments such as those of customs, maritime affairs, and immigration management, perfect the construction of the cruise-specific section within the International Trade "Single Window", optimize clearance procedures, improve the level of digitalization, intelligence, and standardization, and continuously enhance the comprehensive service and support capabilities for clearance of the international cruise ports.

With the support of the national immigration administration department, this Municipality promotes the optimization of immigration and exit-entry policies, such as visa exemptions for cruise arrivals, strengthens publicity and promotion of the policies, and improves service support measures.

Article 14

The departments of commerce, transportation, market regulation, drug regulation, ecological environment, and the other relevant departments shall coordinate with the departments such as those of customs, maritime affairs, and immigration administration to optimize the supervision measures, enhance the facilitation of supplies replenishment for cruise ships during port calls, and ensure the supply of materials necessary for cruise operations, including food, daily necessities, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, emergency rescue supplies, and ship spare parts.

The municipal departments of transportation, commerce, and culture and tourism shall, in conjunction with the people's governments of the relevant districts, formulate a list of common low-risk supplies for replenishment of international cruise ships during port calls. This list, which specifies the types and quantities of common low-risk materials related to international cruise operations allowed for replenishment at ports within the administrative area of this Municipality, will be released after approval by the Municipal People's Government and updated regularly.

This Municipality encourages the cruise lines to select sites near the cruise ports for construction of international cruise supplies distribution centers. The people's governments of the relevant districts will, in conjunction with the other relevant departments, explore and promote the establishment of special customs supervision zones or bonded areas at or near the cruise ports.

Article 15

The people's governments of the relevant districts shall, in conjunction with the municipal departments of development and reform, planning and resources, transportation, and the other relevant departments, improve the transportation infrastructure within the port area and its surroundings, optimize traffic organization, and achieve convenient connections between cruise ports and public transportation.

The people's governments of the relevant districts shall, in conjunction with the other relevant departments of public security, optimize the administration within the cruise port area regarding such matters as public security and traffic safety, to ensure the safety and order of the port area.

The people's governments of the relevant districts cooperate with the department of immigration administration in delineating restricted zones at the ports. Individuals and transportation vehicles entering or exiting these restricted zones shall be subject to inspection and administration.

The municipal department of transportation shall, in conjunction with the people's governments of the relevant districts, advance the construction and upgrading of shore power facilities at the cruise terminals, supervise the port operators in strengthening equipment maintenance to ensure normal operation, promote the use of shore power by the cruise ships taking Shanghai as their homeport in accordance with legal requirements, and support the application of new energy sources and technologies such as green fuels.

Article 16

The people's governments of the relevant districts shall strengthen integrated port-city development, promote the in-depth integration of culture, tourism, commerce, sports, exhibitions, and other sectors along the waterfront and the areas surrounding the ports, advance the construction of cruise-themed tourism resorts, and enhance the ports' functions such as tourist reception, cruise services, leisure vacations, consumption and shopping, international payment, and multilingual services.

Article 17

The municipal department of commerce shall, in conjunction with the municipal departments of finance, development and reform, and the other relevant departments, as well as the people's governments of the relevant districts, optimize incentive policies and facilitation measures related to cruise line headquarters, and encourage domestic and foreign cruise lines to register and establish regional headquarters and functional institutions in this Municipality and build bases for cruise line headquarters to foster a clustering effect.

Article 18

This Municipality strengthens the construction of its cruise manufacturing ports, fosters a sound industrial innovation ecosystem, advances improvement of the cruise manufacturing industry chain, and enhances the competitiveness of high-end manufacturing.

This Municipality promotes the establishment of a cruise research, development, and design system, strengthens the capability for overall cruise assembly and construction, expands cruise maintenance, repair, and upgrading services, strengthens the supporting system of the cruise industry chain, and advances the construction of a world-class base for cruise design and construction.

This Municipality promotes the integration of core cruise systems and the research and development of key equipment, strengthens research on applied technologies for cruise ship materials, power propulsion, safety assurance, communication and navigation, integrated monitoring, and energy consumption management, and improves the safety, intelligence, and environmental sustainability of cruise ships.

This Municipality promotes the construction of cruise supporting industries and the clustered development of enterprises, supports the research and development of cruise supporting equipment, and promotes the establishment of standards and technical service systems for cruise equipment and products in compliance with the international standards.

The department of economy and informatization shall, in conjunction with the other relevant departments, make an overall plan on industrial resources and supporting policies, and coordinatively ensure the construction of large cruise ships and the research and industrialization of key technologies.

Article 19

The Municipal People's Government and the people's governments of the relevant districts support the development of the cruise economy in accordance with their financial capabilities and resource advantages.

The local financial departments, in conjunction with the other relevant departments, promote financial support for development of the cruise economy and guide financial institutions in improving financial products and services, such as comprehensive cruise insurance.

Article 20

The people's governments of the relevant districts, in conjunction with the other relevant departments, strengthen information sharing for cruise service support. The cruise lines and port operators shall report the relevant information thereto in accordance with legal requirements.

Article 21

This Municipality enhances the statistics work of the cruise economy and constructs a scientifically sound statistical indicator system for the cruise industry. The departments of transportation, commerce, culture and tourism, statistics, and the other relevant departments shall conduct statistical surveys and analyses on cruise activities and enhance research on cruise-related data.

Article 22

The departments of human resources and social security, education, commerce, transportation, culture and tourism, talent, maritime affairs, and the other relevant departments shall strengthen cultivation and recruitment of the cruise professionals, and advance the development of talent teams in cruise design and manufacturing, cruise operations, high-end services, and the other cruise-related fields.

Higher education institutions and research organizations are encouraged to establish majors related to the cruise economy, offer relevant courses, and support joint establishment of practical training bases for the cruise talents with the cruise-related enterprises and the other entities, thereby achieving industry-university-research cooperation and promoting the integration of industry and education.

The relevant enterprises, schools, professional institutions, and the like organizations are encouraged to conduct vocational training for cruise talents, which may receive this Municipality's vocational training subsidy where the prescribed conditions are satisfied.

The people's governments of the relevant districts establish cruise crew service centers to provide services such as cruise crew recruitment, dispatching, and training.

Article 23

The cruise lines, the port operators, and the relevant enterprises shall strengthen operational safety management, and strictly implement the requirements related to production safety and emergency management.

The relevant municipal departments improve the coordinated response mechanism for cruise emergencies. The people's governments of the relevant districts shall formulate emergency response plans for cruise emergency management, establish an emergency response mechanism for cruise incidents, conduct emergency drills, and supervise and urge the cruise lines and the relevant enterprises in enhancing safety management.

Article 24

The municipal department of culture and tourism, in conjunction with the other relevant departments, advances the development of cruise cultural brands and strengthens the promotion of cruise culture and the dissemination of cruise-related knowledge. The cruise lines are encouraged to increase innovation efforts, creating themed voyages that embody excellent traditional Chinese culture and local characteristics, and promoting the deep integration of cruise tourism with culture.

Cruise passengers shall observe public order and the code of conduct for civilized tourists, and respect cruise etiquette.

Article 25

This Municipality strengthens international exchanges and cooperation in the field of the cruise economy, encourages collaboration with the relevant enterprises and international organizations in areas such as route development and layout, cruise tourism product promotion, and talent cultivation, and supports the hosting of various exchange activities.

Article 26

This Municipality establishes and improves a one-stop diversified dispute resolution mechanism that integrates mediation, arbitration, and litigation, leverages the advantages of multiple dispute resolution methods, and promotes the efficient and convenient resolution of cruise-related disputes.

The people's courts and arbitration institutions apply, in their adjudication and arbitration activities, international treaties and practices in accordance with law, respect the transaction rules and customs of the cruise industry, and provide guidance through measures such as releasing typical cases.

Article 27

These Provisions shall be effective as of March 1, 2026.