320,000 Cruise Tourists in Q1...Culture Ministry to Boost Length of Stay at Ports of Call

A Record 960 Cruise Calls Scheduled This Year, Up 63.2% from Last Year
Extra 3.4 Billion Won in Supplementary Budget
Support for Six Major Ports Including Busan and Incheon

The government is expanding port-of-call tourism content and stimulating regional spending in response to the surge in demand for cruise tourism. The plan is to extend cruise tourist consumption beyond port-centric activities to broader regional tourism, thereby increasing visitors' length of stay and amplifying the economic impact on local communities.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 13th that, in line with the rising number of cruise tourists visiting Korea, it will support cultural performances, local specialty pop-up stores, and the operation of sightseeing circulator buses at major ports of call including Busan, Incheon, Yeosu, Sokcho, Seosan, and Pohang.

In the first quarter of this year, the number of cruise tourists reached approximately 320,000, up 11.4% from 290,000 during the same period last year. The number of cruise port calls during the same period was 168, a 50% increase from 112 calls last year. The total number of cruise arrivals planned for this year is 960, which is expected to represent a 63.2% increase from 588 last year.

To address the rapidly increasing demand for cruise tourism, the Ministry has secured an additional budget of 3.4 billion won this year. At the six major ports of call—Busan, Incheon, Yeosu, Sokcho, Seosan, and Pohang—the Ministry plans to support welcome events such as cultural performances, pop-up stores for local specialties within the terminals, photo zones, and the operation of sightseeing circulator buses. The aim is to extend the length of stay for cruise tourists, thereby boosting spending among local small businesses and the tourism industry.

On the 12th, Royal Caribbean’s mega cruise ship "Spectrum of the Seas" entered Busan Port, carrying more than 5,200 passengers and 1,500 crew members—a total of around 6,700 people. At Busan Port, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization operated a "K-Beauty" circulator bus for the cruise crew and provided access to makeup and hair styling services on Seomyeon Medical Street.

The ship is also scheduled to call at Yeosu Port on the same day. This marks Royal Caribbean’s first port call at Yeosu in 10 years. To commemorate the occasion, 25 foreign passengers will participate in a temple stay program at Hwaeomsa Temple, where they will prepare temple food and share tea with monks.

A Ministry official stated, "We will nurture cruise tourism as a catalyst for regional tourism revitalization, going beyond simple visit-based tourism," and added, "We will continue to develop regionally specialized content so that the economic benefits of cruise tourism can spread throughout local communities at the ports of call, and we will also work in cooperation with relevant ministries to improve embarkation and disembarkation convenience."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.