'Cruise Tourism Revitalization': Yeosu Gwangyang Port Authority Wins Big Data Excellence Award

Cruise Ship Calls at Yeosu Port Reach 22, Triple the Previous Year’s Figure

Yeosu Port's success in revitalizing cruise tourism has been recognized as an outstanding example of tourism big data use.

The Yeosu Gwangyang Port Authority (President Choi Gwanho) announced on October 30 that it won an Excellence Award at the 2026 Korea Tourism Data Lab Utilization Contest, hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korea Tourism Organization, on October 29.

Yeosu Gwangyang Port Authority won the Excellence Award at the 2026 Korea Tourism Data Lab Utilization Competition, hosted by the Korea Tourism Organization, on the 29th. Photo provided by Yeosu Gwangyang Port Authority.

The contest was held to identify outstanding examples of using tourism big data to boost tourism and local economies and improve marketing and services. The authority was selected as one of the top nine teams among 296 entries nationwide for its project, "Data Opens a Sea Route, Connecting the World’s Cruise Ships to Yeosu."

Using the Korea Tourism Data Lab, the authority analyzed cruise passenger figures by nationality, per-person spending, and popular tourism content associated with cruise ship arrivals at Yeosu Port. Based on the findings, it stepped up its cruise port sales activities.

As a result, a large cruise ship of approximately 170,000 tons made its first call at Yeosu Port in May this year, and the number of cruise ship calls rose to 22, about three times the previous year's figure. The number of tourists also reached approximately 35,000, a sevenfold increase from the previous year.

An authority official said, "We will continue to make active use of tourism data to increase cruise ship calls at Yeosu Port and do our utmost to boost marine tourism and the local economy."

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