More than 1,000 tourists boarded the Blue Dream Melody cruise ship in Beihai, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Friday afternoon, embarking on a three-day, two-night cruise to Halong Bay in Vietnam.

The voyage marks the inaugural route following the opening of the Beibu Gulf International Cruise Homeport on the same day.

The Beibu Gulf International Cruise Homeport is one of the 12 national cruise starting ports planned and laid out by the Ministry of Transport. It is equipped with two cruise ship berths, a passenger terminal and waiting lounges.

The homeport passed port opening acceptance in June this year. The official operation of the cruise homeport has significantly boosted the development of Guangxi's cruise tourism industry and expanded the inbound and outbound tourism market.

Zhou Shaobo, chairman of Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group, stated that the group will leverage the opening of the Sino-Vietnamese cruise route to accelerate the development of its marine cultural tourism economy, promote international exchange and cooperation in maritime tourism and advance the construction of international gateway ports and international hub seaports. Plans for additional cruise routes are in the works, expanding routes to countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, such as Cambodia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.

The Beihai-Halong Bay route is operated by the luxury cruise ship Blue Dream Melody, a vessel operated by Shanghai Blue Dream International Cruises Holding.

The Blue Dream Melody weighs 42,000 tons and is 202.85 meters long and 28.10 meters wide. It has 12 decks, 609 guest rooms and a maximum capacity of 1,580 passengers.