Cruise Ship Tourists to Korea Expected to Surpass 2M This Year

It has been found that tourists from cruise ships through ports of call such as Busan, Incheon and Jeju surpassed 1.48 million late last month for the first time. According to data on cruise ship tourists at ports of call released by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries on October 5, 1.48 million tourists entered port for a total of 585 voyages – 373 voyages (920,000 passengers) at Jeju Port, 162 voyages (430,000 passengers) at Busan Port, 48 voyages (120,000) at Incheon Port among others. This figure is an increase of 130% from a year before and up 66% from 2014.

From this month to year’s end, foreign cruise ships are planning a total of 236 voyages -- 161 voyages at Jeju Port, 53 voyages at Busan Port and 22 voyages at Incheon Port. Thus it is expected that cruise ship tourists will break through two million beyond the original target of 1.5 million.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries explained that if cruise ship tourists top two million this year, it will create over two trillion won in economic effects in port of call areas when taking into account the fact that a foreign cruise ship tourist spent US$886 in such areas on average.

The ministry analyzed that the construction of infrastructure will lead to an increase in entries of large cruise ships which weigh more than 100,000 tons and ultimately, a spike in the number of cruise ship tourists.