At the height of the summer travel season, the Viewing Qingdao from the Sea cultural tourism experience has emerged as one of the most dynamic drivers of the city's cultural‑tourism market. As of noon on July 27, the Qingdao-based consortium for local marine tourism had welcomed more than 2 million visitors this year, marking a 107.8% increase from the same period last year.

From sunlit blue seas by day to dazzling city lights by night, Qingdao's diverse range of marine tourism products has turned the Viewing Qingdao from the Sea tourism event into a summer blockbuster for culture and tourism. The local marine tourism consortium has handled an average of around 28,000 visitors daily since July with peak days exceeding 40,000, reaching the 1,000,000th visitor mark on June 11—48 days earlier compared to last year—and surpassing 1.5 million on July 9—36 days earlier —and the 2,000,000th mark was achieved on July 27—39 days earlier. At each of these milestones, private operators accounted for 26.4%, 29.5%, and 35% of total visitors respectively, underscoring the strong momentum generated by the city's opening and liberalization of marine tourism.

In terms of operations, the Qingdao Tourism Group-led consortium involves the integration of 63 shipping operators under a "Five‑Unification" model—standardizing product pricing, ticketing, service quality, vessel scheduling, and financial settlement—to effectively reshape the city's marine tourism landscape. Among its offerings, the Qingdao Ferry Loop and Underwater World Loop—exclusive flagship offerings of Qingdao Tourism Group (QTG)—have consistently led in passenger volume. QTG began gradually and systematically opening these two prime routes to private operators in 2025, allowing them direct access to the group's established customer base, tourism brand influence, and core infrastructure resources.

From a citywide perspective, the new "Charming Tangdao Bay" cruise route is now open for presales, where tourists, starting from August, will be given the chance to explore Tangdao Bay's thousand‑year-old heritage and striking scenery from the water, with sea‑level views of the Qindao Eye Ferris wheel and the West Coast's modern skyline through a tour package route that links key landmarks such as the Qingdao International Sailing Centre, the Qingdao Underwater World, Zhanqiao Pier, Qingdao ferry cruises, and the Laoshan Scenic Area. Meanwhile, construction has begun on the pontoon project at the Dongdayang Pier of Hongdao, a development aimed at further enhancing the quality of Jiaozhou Bay marine tourism and driving cultural‑tourism growth in the Hongdao area. At the same time, multiple city landmarks and offshore islands are moving quickly to integrate into Qingdao's unified marine tourism system—built on the vision of a unified marine tourism system where all sea routes are interconnected, all piers are coordinated under a single operational map, and visitors can access multiple routes and attractions with a single integrated ticket—to make travel seamless, efficient, and tourist‑friendly.