A luxurious European cruise ship carrying 1,300 Chinese tourists arrived at Kaohsiung yesterday morning, opening a new chapter for cross-strait tourism through direct voyage. The visit is estimated to create 40 million NT dollars' worth of business opportunities for the city.

Tugboats sprayed columns of water to greet this European cruise ship, "Costa Romantica" into port.

Later, there was music and a performance from Dian Yin San Tai Zi with many Chinese tourists stopping to take a photo.

This ship carried 1300 passengers on a direct route from Xiamen to Kaohsiung with other stops in Taichung and Keelung, making a complete tour of Taiwan.

The harbor had more than 30 coaches on standby, and ready to take visitors to the Fo Guang Shan Temple.

After direct flights, these direct cruises will cost less, and more people including the young and old, and even the whole family can take these trips.

European and American cruise ships are entering the cross-strait market, as there are many group tours.

The Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau is also planning an international travel center to improve the quality of passenger service.

With the Kaohsiung Port seeing less container volume each year, tourism has become a new direction for it to pursue.

Tour operators said that cross-strait charter flights are still the main part of this travel, and when more regular flights will occur will mainly be dependent upon China to decide.

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