An unprecedented number of cruise ships are heading to Shanghai this year.

The city is expected to berth more than 30 luxurious ocean liners in the coming months. Eighty per cent of them will dock at a temporary wharf, 200 meters away from the city's first cruise terminal, which is currently under construction.

The other 20 per cent will dock at the city's Waigaoqiao Wharf.

Most of the construction work at Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal, by the north part of the scenic Bund area, has been completed.

It is expected to begin trial operations later this year, before being officially opened in 2007.

The terminal complex includes a 90,000 square meter park, a wharf with three berths, and an office, hotel and mall development. Each of the three berths is capable of docking liners of 80,000 tonnages.

An information system will be installed at the terminal that can process up to 1,500 passengers in an hour.

The terminal project, initiated in 1999, is designed to meet the increasing demand of tourists, both from home and abroad, traveling by sea.

China will become the most visited country in the world by 2020 and many of the tourists will come by sea, according to an international tourism organization quoted by Xinmin Evening News.

Shanghai is situated in a prime place, being relatively close to other popular tourist areas of the country such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, and countries such as the Republic of Korea and Japan.

In 2005, the 25 cruises that stopped at Shanghai brought nearly 80,000 tourists and crewmen, a 150 per cent increase on 2004.

Insiders predict that by 2010, the number of trips taken to Shanghai on cruise liners will reach 3 million a year.

At the same time, more and more Shanghai residents are traveling away from the city.

Statistics reveal that the percentage of outbound travelers from Shanghai is 17 times higher than the national average.

(China Daily March 16, 2006)