The Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal welcomed 4,800 international passengers on Sunday, setting a new record for the highest number of foreign tourists to enter the port in a single day. On Sunday, the German luxury cruise ship AIDA Stella docked at the port for the first time, bringing approximately 2,200 international tourists. On the same day, Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas also arrived, delivering over 2,600 foreign visitors to the port.
The cruise port hosted a special welcoming ceremony for foreign tourists, featuring dragon and lion dances, traditional Chinese music performances, and displays of intangible cultural heritage, which captivated many visitors. "I think it's a beautiful town, I've never been there before. I will see what it will be," said a foreign tourist.
"It's the first time we're here in China and we're really excited to see Shanghai, to see what's going on in China. We have heard that it's a really modern country. So, we are really excited about what we can see here," said another tourist.
Shanghai cruise port welcomes record 4,800 passengers in single day
Europe is facing mounting economic pressure as tensions in the Middle East escalate, causing significant fluctuations in global energy markets, a European energy expert has said.
The region's heavy reliance on energy imports has left it vulnerable to soaring oil and gas prices, raising concerns over inflation and economic stability, said Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank devoted to policy research on economic issues.
"This is putting very tough pressure on the European gas markets. Also, we see rising cost of the gasoline at the pump. So, higher energy costs, which will again have huge impact on the European citizens and which risk to ignite an inflation spiral where all prices rise as a consequence of the rising energy prices," said Tagliapietra, who specializes in EU climate, energy and industrial policy.
Despite Europe's substantial imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, the expert cautioned, U.S. supply remains unstable, which further complicates Europe's energy security outlook.
"Given the volatility in the decisions of the Trump administration and given the trade war that the Trump administration has started against all other countries including the European Union in the past year, we are also very much attentive at any possible attempt by the U.S. administration to limit the exports of this LNG. We do not see this as an imminent risk, but this is something that Europe certainly needs to watch out with great degree of care in the coming months and weeks," he said.
Tagliapietra agrees that Europe must accelerate its energy transition to reduce dependency on single import sources and fossil fuels.
"There is nothing that Europe can do to decouple itself from this vulnerability of fossil fuel dependency, then accelerating the deployment of solar and wind energy sources in Europe. And we need to continue to do a lot of efforts amid this new energy crisis," said Tagliapietra.
Rising tensions in Middle East trigger energy market volatility in Europe: expert
