Cruise lines in China are moving quickly to adjust shore excursion options, they said at the recent 2024 Shanghai International Cruise Summit, moving away from typical shopping-based exucrsions and to more traditional offerings.

Fan Liu, CEO of the Cruise Business at the Trip.com Group (the English name of China’s major online travel platform, Ctrip), talked about the evolving shore excursion model based on their data.

The most important factors for cruise passengers, according to Net Promoter Scores (NPS), include food and beverage (F&B), facilities and service, overall travel experience, price and the ease of booking, he said.

Liu emphasized that differentiating products and services is essential to avoid price competition due to product similarity. Customer research indicates that 40 percent of passengers are willing to choose upgraded shore excursions. However, only half are satisfied with the current offerings.

Liu noted that the industry is not meeting customers’ expectations for shore excursions, and the pace of adapting to these needs is slower compared to other vacation products, such as private or group tours, which are quickly evolving toward smaller, customized experiences.

Zinan Liu, chairman of Royal Caribbean Group Asia  stressed that shore excursions need to be more diverse and not just shopping focused.

He said that Royal Caribbean had added more boutique excursions to its China-based sailings, some of which cost more than $100 per person. The challenge, he continued, is that Chinese guests are used to free excursions, so while they may not be interested in shopping tours, they are not accustomed to paying for more boutique tours.

Wei Zhao, CEO of the Japanese shore excursion company Oriental, noted that on the shorter cruises favored by Chinese tourists, the one or two available excursions play a crucial role in shaping the overall travel experience. Between 2019 and 2024, free excursion packages, often focused on low-cost shopping, dropped in.

This shift followed Adora’s policy change, which removed penalties for guests who skip the free excursions and opt for independent travel instead. During this time, the percentage of Free Independent Traveler (FIT) tours rose significantly, now representing about 30 percent of total tours, he said.

Zhao highlighted that today’s consumers increasingly prefer unique, experiential activities over shopping and are willing to pay for high-quality packages.