A high-speed passenger ship has been newly put into operation in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as part of efforts to facilitate the surge in passenger traffic during the annual Spring Festival travel rush.
On Thursday, the Beiyou 36 passenger ship departed from Beihai International Port and headed for Weizhou Island in Beihai, Guangxi.
The 1,200-seat high-speed passenger ship has a total length of 71 meters, a designed speed of 29 knots, and a maximum speed of over 32 knots.
It was deployed to help alleviate pressure on the coastal ferry route driven by booming demand for seaside tourism and family visits during the 40-day travel rush, also known as chunyun, which runs from Feb 2 to March 13 this year.
According to the forecast from the Guangxi Maritime Safety Administration, the Beihai to Weizhou Island route is expected to handle 900,000 passenger trips throughout the chunyun period.
High-speed passenger ship newly put into service in Guangxi for Spring Festival travel rush
Spain is seeing a surge in European tourists as conflict in the Middle East prompts travelers to opt for closer and safer destinations.
With Easter holiday underway, Palma de Mallorca airport has been packed with visitors who abandoned plans for trips eastward. Hostilities triggered by Israeli‑U.S. strikes on Iran have forced major airports across the Middle East to cancel or delay flights, severely disrupting aviation and tourism in the region.
"We were thinking about going to Dubai, but because of the war, there was no option, so we came here to Mallorca," said a traveler named Michelle, who works as a kindergarten teacher.
"We thought about going to Thailand, but I see the flights were disrupted and they said there were drones and things like that, so we thought Spain may be a safer option," another traveler Ross McGrego said.
"The situation in the Middle East is a little bit too unstable for my holiday plans," said traveler Rose Danaher, a rabies specialist nurse with the UK Health Services Agency.
The influx has brought new opportunities for local businesses. Local restaurant owner in Mallorca Victoria Amoros opened her second restaurant just days ago.
"50,000 people extra are flying to Mallorca. These people were supposed to fly to the Middle East and they are rerouted to Mallorca. I don't know how we are going to handle that, but we will receive them with love," said Amoros, owner of La Malvasia Restaurant Chain.
Chris Pomeroy, the global head of tourism of international communications group Hopscotch said people all over the world are choosing to holiday closer to home.
"So, 14 percent of international travel goes through the Middle East, it's a connectivity issue. So, when these bridges are down, the logical effect is that people will stay in their hemisphere. We say in tourism that when in times of conflict, investors turn to gold, and in times of conflict, tour operators turn to Spain," he said.
Spain welcomed a record 97 million foreign tourists in 2025, and industry experts say the figure could surpass 100 million this year. With Middle East routes disrupted, Spain's role as Europe's fallback destination is set to grow even further.
Spain tourism surges as Europeans opt for safer holidays amid Middle East conflict
