Cruise travel has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in Shanghai's tourism market in 2010, up 100 percent on last year in terms of the cruise passengers passing through the city's ports, and the city will be the third-largest port for cruises in Asia after Hong Kong and Singapore by the end of 2015, according to the Tourism Bureau of Shanghai Thursday.

The number of cruise passengers who have passed through Shanghai this year will reach 150,000 from around 120 cruises. The number of cruises that stopped in Shanghai last year was only 80.

"Shanghai is a hub for cruise travel along the country's eastern coastline," Yang Yimu, an officer from the cruise travel department of the Tourism Bureau of Shanghai, said.

Yang added that over 60 percent of cruise package buyers from the Chinese mainland are from Shanghai.

Shanghai is the home port of three cruises from both Costa and Royal Caribbean, and is a fixture on the itinerary of many round-the-world cruises. A further five cruises will use Shanghai as a home port in the next five years.

The forthcoming Shanghai Disneyland will also provide a boost to the city's cruise industry. "We are going to work out a three-stop Disney cruise route covering Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai," Lu Haigu, the chairman of Shanghai International Port (Group) said.

Local travel agencies are planning to extend their cruise business. "As well as Costa and Royal Caribbean, we're going to feature routes from all the cruises that travel in the Asia-Pacific region next year," Zou Qingling, an officer from the cruise travel department of Spring Travel said, adding that they expect to see a doubling in their cruise bookings in 2011.

"Compared with Hong Kong and Singapore, the number of cruises visiting Shanghai is still low, and most routes that stop off at the city are limited to the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan," Yang said. He added that the city's government has plans to introduce routes to bring more Russian travelers to countries in Southeast Asia.

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