The waterfront gateway to Bejing, Tianjin is the only city in Northern China designed as a cruise tourism development pilot zone by the government.

According to the pilot scheme, the Tianjin government is working on new cruise itinaries including cruises to North Korea, Russia and Japan, as well as working to attract more large ships to the area.

Business is increasing in Tianjin too, with a 200 percent traffic uptick through the first six months of 2016, with 52 calls and 190,000 passengers.

The port has also extended its season and expects more calls through the winter, including ships from Costa and Royal Caribbean.

Later this year, the Costa Atlantica will sail a 46-day South Pacific itinerary from Tianjin.

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The 11th edition of the China Cruise Shipping and International Expo is the Asia/Pacific’s No. 1 cruise event, learn more at http://www.ccyia.com/. The show takes place Sept. 23-26 in Tianjin.

Read a detailed analysis of the Chinese cruise market Cruise Industry News Fall/October 2016 Quarterly Magazine, due out Sept. 23.

Visit Cruise Industry News, the official event media sponsor and partner, at CCS in Tianjin