TUI’s Mein Schiff 7 Delivered by Meyer Turku

Posted on 12 June, 2024 by Spacejunkie2

The new Mein Schiff 7 was officially delivered to TUI Cruises today at the Meyer Turku Shipyard in Finland, according to a press release.

The 2,894-guest vessel is the first built by the shipyard with methanol capability, Meyer Turku said in a prepared statement.

At the official signing ceremony, the shipyard was represented by CEO Tim Meyer and Head of Projects Tom Degerman, while TUI Cruises was represented by CEO Wybcke Meier and CFO Frank Kuhlmann.

The Mein Schiff 7 is the seventh ship of the Mein Schiff series built by the shipyard, Meyer Turku highlighted.

“Mein Schiff 7’s symbolic start of production, the steel cutting ceremony, took place at our shipyard on June 14, 2022,” said Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku.

“We are very proud to have delivered the Mein Schiff 7 to TUI Cruises today, less than two years later. This was made possible by our long-standing and close cooperation.”

The Mein Schiff 7 is also the first ship in the Mein Schiff fleet to run exclusively on low-emission marine diesel (with a maximum sulfur content of 0.1%).

The 111,500-ton ship has a shore power connection and is equipped with catalytic converters, the shipyard said.

In addition, the Mein Schiff 7 is built so that it can also run on methanol, which with the green methanol of the future, will make the ship’s propulsion power almost CO2-neutral.

“Receiving this ship is a special moment for us. Ten years ago, we acquired our first Blu Motion class ship here in Turku, and by 2019 we had built a total of six vessels,” said Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises.

“We would like to thank the Meyer Turku shipyard for the excellent cooperation and the development of our well-being fleet. We are now sailing on the Mein Schiff 7 to Kiel, where we will welcome the first guests on board on June 12,” she added.

Jamaica Experiences Its Biggest Winter Season Ever

Posted on 24 April, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett has stated that Jamaica is experiencing its biggest winter season in the history of tourism, adding that the tourism boom is set to continue, according to a press release.

“For the January to March 2023 period, it is estimated that Jamaica welcomed 1.18 million visitors, which represents a growth of 94.4 per cent when compared to the same period in 2022. This represents earnings of $1.15 billion, 46.4 per cent above the $786.8 million earned for the same period in 2022,” said Bartlett.

“If there was ever an industry that has the potential to transform our nation, our communities and the lives and livelihoods of the Jamaican people for the better, it is tourism.

Bartlett added that gross domestic product (GDP) for the economy is projected to grow by up to 3.0 per cent to 5.0 per cent during January – March 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

Speaking at the Sectoral Debate in Parliament, Bartlett said that arrivals for 2022 were up by 117 per cent while earnings were up by 71.4 per cent compared to 2021. In 2022, Jamaica welcomed 3.3 million visitors and earned about $3.7 billion. Projections earnings in 2024 go up to $4.1 billion.

“Never before in the history of Jamaica has tourism made such a great contribution to the national economy and we are willing to contribute to that process and to make even greater contributions,” added Bartlett.

“Investments continue to boom to drive the industry’s recovery (and) over the last five years tourism investment contributed 20 per cent of the island’s total foreign direct investments (FDI) and over the next 5 to 10 years, there are multiple upcoming investment projects which will see the addition of 15,000 to 20,000 new rooms with an investment of $4 billion to $5 billion.”

Chinese Tourism Starting to Climb Back?

Posted on 27 February, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

Chinese tourism is starting to climb back, according to COTRI (China Outbound Tourism Research Institute).

COTRI said in a prepared statement that the speed of the recovery process is impressive with reports from many cities indicating that it takes only about a week to get a new passport and that travel restrictions are also falling by the wayside quickly.

The clash between South Korea and China over discriminatory treatment seems to be over. South Koreans can now get visas for China again and the South Korean government has ended special treatment for the Chinese, COTRI said.

European Union countries have reportedly also agreed to phase out COVID-19 restrictions on travellers from China and will also stop random testing of travellers from China by the middle of March.

Chinese companies have also started investing in outbound tourism infrastructure again with the Shanghai retailer Yuyuan Tourist Mart announcing plans to invest about US$120 million in a Japanese ski resort project on Hokkaido.

Airlines are bringing back a multitude of routes to and from China and ticket prices are in most cases back to pre-pandemic levels, according to COTRI.

Business, studies and family reunions are major reasons for the first outbound travellers, the research institute said, but the first leisure tourists have already been sighted not only in the neighbouring countries but also in Sydney, Paris and Milan.

It was less than two months ago that Chinese citizens could again apply for passports and just two weeks ago that Chinese tour operators were officially allowed to sell outbound trips for what is called “group travel” to 20 destinations, even though most customers are said just to buy air tickets and hotel reservations.

Contributing to the interest in travel, COTRI said, are all the marriages that have been put on hold during COVID, expecting to result in a wave of honeymoon trips.

The year 2022 ended with a total number of outbound trips below nine million, about 5 per cent of the 2019 level. Five million of these trips went no further than Macau. Hong Kong welcomed 375,000 mainlanders, five times the number of 2021, but still less than 1 per cent of the 2019 arrivals.

Assuming no further disruptions or an attack on Taiwan, COTRI said, Chinese travellers could make the steep climb back to the top of all international tourism source markets during the current year.

COTRI is a research organization for the China outbound tourism market-based in Hamburg, Germany.