The city of Qingdao, Shandong province is getting ambitious about a regional cruise terminal for Northeast Asia and a world-class cruise destination, so it’s increasing efforts in that direction to promote cruise tourism while bidding a fond farewell to the era of just being a port of call.

The main part of the pier project has been completed and can already receive the largest cruise ships, according to an announcement at the China International Cruises Summit (Qingdao) Nov 11-12, 2014, where it was announced that he city will speed up construction work on the cruise terminal passenger center next and transform the old port.

That was the second year for the summit, sponsored by the China Ports and Harbors Association, with a cruise tourism promotional fair running simultaneously. The event drew around 300 leaders, experts, scholars, and VIPs from renowned cruise lines, cruise port operators, travel agencies, and colleges and universities, who came to discuss the Qingdao cruise terminal and the future of cruise tourism.

They also exchanged thoughts on China’s cruise industry, foreign cruise line strategies, infrastructure and operations, expansion of cruise routes and the tourism market, supply and demand for industry professionals, and the travel agency business.

This year’s summit saw seven Chinese port cities -- Shanghai, Tianjin, Xiamen, Sanya, Zhoushan, Qingdao and Hong Kong -- announcing a cruise port alliance, with the purpose of setting up a cooperation site for cruise terminal development, operations and management, and a national cruise economy network to promote rapid growth in China’s cruise tourism.

Some cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean International, HNA Cruise, Skysea Cruise Line and Bohai Cruise, also struck deals with Shandong travel agencies. It is estimated that the Qingdao terminal will open 20 cruise routes by 2015 and another 80 within the following three years.

Qingdao has great potential for cruise tourism thanks to its scenery, geography, traffic and transportation, and buoyant economy. In 2013, it announced a cruise industry plan with a goal of building an international cruise resort for business, trade, culture, tourism and leisure, and, this year, it announced new policies to accelerate the industry’s development through subsidies for cruise lines in the city and travel agencies that handle cruise tourists.