GUANGZHOU, March 12 -- A cruise liner service between south China's Guangzhou and Okinawa, Japan, will begin next month, to cater to China's fast growing cruise travel market.

Starting from April 17, passenger liner SuperStar Virgo will service the route from Nansha port in Guangzhou to Okinawa and Miyakojima in Japan and back, according to Star Cruises, owner and operator of the ship.

The six-day liner departs every Sunday and returns Friday.

SuperStar Virgo was put in service from Guangzhou to Vietnam in January. More than 17,000 people had travelled on the passenger liner in the last two months.

Zhu Shaodong, manager of GZL, a Guangzhou-based travel agency, said the voyage will attract people from both Guangdong Province and neighboring regions.

China's cruise travel market is forecast to become Asia's largest by 2020, with an estimated number of 4.5 million passenger journeys a year. Now about one million people travel overseas on cruise liners every year.