Briefs | Cruise liner tours prove popular in Shenzhen

Cruise liner tours have become quite popular in southern China as the traditional Spring Festival holiday approaches. In the metropolis of Shenzhen, tickets have sold out for the Costa Venezia, the first ship designed by Costa Cruises, the Italian brand of Carnival Corporation built especially for Chinese guests. With a gross tonnage of 135,500 tonnes, the 323-meter-long Costa Venezia offers 2,116 cabins for a total of 5,260 passengers. The vessel will depart from the Shekou cruise liner homeport in Shenzhen. Since opening in 2016, the port has welcomed 17 cruise liners from around the world and received about 1.35 million tourists.

Dongguan reports trade growth with B&R countries

The city of Dongguan saw robust growth in its foreign trade with countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative last year, local authorities said. The trade volume rose by 16.5 % year on year to over 278 billion yuan (over $40 billion), according to Huangpu Customs in Guangdong Province. The city’s total trade volume reached 1.24 trillion yuan in the first 11 months of 2019, an annual increase of 0.8 %, accounting for 4.4 percent of China’s total foreign trade, and 19.4 % of Guangdong’s total during the same period. Dongguan further optimized its trade structure, with mechanical and electrical products as its main exports last year.

HK’s Cathay Pacific slide in traffic begins to ease

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., one of the most high-profile corporate casualties of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, said it expects business to remain tough this year. “We continue to see a significant shortfall for the period after Chinese New Year, especially from inbound traffic,” Cathay’s Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said in a statement, referring to the national holidays that are at the end of January this year. “2020 will continue to present us with a highly challenging operating environment,” he said. The airline and its unit Cathay Dragon carried 2.99 million passengers in December, a drop of 3.6% from a year earlier, according to the statement. The decline in November was more severe at 9%. Inbound traffic plunged 46% last month, the same as November. Cathay again warned that its second-half profit would be “significantly” lower than the first as it was badly hit by months of protests. In addition to suffering a slowdown in business, the airline faced a clampdown from Chinese regulators after some of its employees took part in demonstrations.