China's domestically built cruise ship Adora Magic City to resume Japan routes in December

Since the deterioration of Sino-Japanese relations, the Chinese government has urged its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan, leading to the cancellation of many flights and changes in cruise routes. However, the booking system for China's domestically built cruise ship, Adora Magic City, shows that multiple voyages in December will dock in Japan's Yaeyama Islands and Naha in Okinawa.

After Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made remarks about "Taiwan contingency" last November, Beijing called on its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan. The Chinese cruise ship Adora Magic City, which sails on Japan-Korea routes, also changed its itinerary since last November, avoiding Japanese ports such as Fukuoka, Sasebo, and Nagasaki, and instead heading to Korean destinations like Jeju and Busan.

However, according to the booking system on Adora Cruises' official WeChat public account, multiple voyages of Adora Magic City departing from Shanghai in December will change from their current stops in Jeju and Busan, South Korea, to the Yaeyama Islands and Naha in Okinawa, Japan.

Furthermore, an article published on the industry WeChat public account "Cruise News" on the 17th pointed out that it has been half a year since the cruise company changed its routes to South Korea. During this period, passengers were dissatisfied because it was not fun and they were unwilling to go, and the cruise ship could not make money. Even with extremely competitive prices, the occupancy rate plummeted. "It's truly not easy for cruise companies to endure this for so long..."

The article stated that after several foreign cruise companies successively changed multiple Korean routes to domestic Japanese routes, Adora Cruises also modified the Adora Magic City's routes for December 2026 on the 16th. The reason for choosing Okinawa instead of mainland Japan is that Chinese people have a higher recognition of Okinawa and it is also to accommodate the sentiments of some people. "The change in cruise routes is purely a commercial act."

Currently, the impact of Beijing's call for citizens to avoid traveling to Japan continues. The latest data from the Japan National Tourism Organization shows that the number of Chinese visitors to Japan in May decreased by 60.4% year-on-year, to 313,000, marking the sixth consecutive month below the same period last year. Recently, Chinese media cited statistics from Flight Manager DAST, indicating that a total of 31 China-Japan air routes canceled all flights in May. (Editor: Chou Hui-ying) 1150618

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