Research and Countermeasures on the Differentiated Development of the Cruise Economy in China’s Eastern Coastal Provinces

The cruise economy in China’s eastern coastal provinces exhibits significant differentiation: Shanghai has built a full industrial chain ecosystem centered on international cruise homeports, Liaoning Dalian focuses on cruise shipbuilding in northern China and serves as a node for the “Polar Silk Road,” while Hainan Sanya forms a distinctive model through the integration of South China Sea cruise tourism and duty-free consumption. By comparatively analyzing driving factors such as regional policies, industrial foundations, and consumer markets, this study reveals core bottlenecks restricting differentiated development, including insufficient local cruise shipbuilding capacity, homogeneous regional competition, and pressures from green transformation. Countermeasures are proposed through policy coordination, industrial upgrading, consumption innovation, and regional collaboration, aiming to transition the cruise economy in eastern coastal provinces from “scale expansion” to “quality enhancement.” This provides theoretical support and practical references for high-quality development of China’s cruise industry amid global market recovery.