Busan cruises to strong summer as Japanese, Chinese arrive in waves

The cruise tour industry is in full swing after the downturn during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Busan and Jeju Island set to benefit from the influx of maritime arrivals.

Passengers from Japan disembark from the Celebrity Millennium cruise ship at Busan Port's International Passenger Terminal 2 on May 22. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

Over 2,000 foreign tourists spilled out from the Celebrity Millennium cruise ship that docked at Busan Port’s International Passenger Terminal 2 last Wednesday, symbolizing a sign of a recovery in tourism following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The passengers went on individual or group tours to visit the city's hotspots such as the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, Gamcheon Culture Village, Yongdusan Park, Gukje Market and the Busan Tower before returning to the ship by 6 p.m. to set sail for its home port in Japan.

With an estimated 250,000 won ($183) spent per day by each group tourist on top of the 14 million won in docking fees and departure tax, the value of the trip could total 514 million won, a significant contribution to the local economy.

Passengers from the Celebrity Millennium cruise ship board buses to visit tourist spots in Busan on May 22. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

Busan and Jeju Island are currently in their cruise heydays. The cruise tour industry is once again booming following the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and China's lifting of its group tourism ban last August. Beijing banned its citizens from going on group tours to Korea as part of its boycott of Korean tourism and culture in retaliation for Seoul's deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system called Thaad in 2017.

A total of 120 ships, including those that already have, are set to dock at Busan Port’s International Passenger Terminal in Dong District or at the Busan International Cruise Terminal in Yeongdo District this year, according to the Busan Port Authority (BPA) on Thursday, bringing around 200,000 tourists. This surpasses pre-Covid levels, with 189,000 passengers onboard 111 ships making landfall in Busan in 2019. An estimated 280,000 passengers will visit the coastal city on 149 cruise ships scheduled to dock next year.

Most cruise fleets that come to Busan arrive from Japan. Around 10 ports in Japan deploy Busan-bound ships, including Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Beppu, Nagasaki and Sakaiminato.

Passengers from the Celebrity Millennium cruise ship, which docked at Busan on May 22, take commemorative photos in front of Busan Port. [NEWS1]

Though China lifted its ban on group tours to Korea, there have been no Chinese group tourists, called you ke, coming to Busan on cruise ships. This will change starting June 12, with the first among the 15 set to come from the neighboring country leaving from Shanghai.

Luxury cruise lines that operate with Busan as their home port have notably set sail one after the other this month. Four domestic and foreign travel agencies including Panstar Enterprise chartered the Costa Serena, an Italian cruise ship. The ship has been running cruise tours that leave from Busan since May 14, and will operate through Sept. 21. The 114,000-ton ship, which carries around 3,700 guests and 1,100 crew members, is scheduled to ferry passengers to and from Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The luxury cruise liner Costa Serena waits for departure from Daesan Port in Seosan, South Chungcheong, on May 8. [YONHAP]

The Costa Serena became more known this year for offering Chungcheong’s first international cruise. The ship left Daesan Port in Seosan, South Chungcheong, on May 8, stopping by Japan’s Okinawa and Miyako Islands on May 10 and 11, respectively, and Taiwan’s Keelung City on May 12 before returning to Busan Port on May 14. The passengers went back to Seosan on a rented bus after arriving.

“Busan’s excellent location with its geographical proximity to Japan, China and Southeast Asia makes it a great option as a port of call,” Jeon Eon-yook, head of the BPA’s industry and innovation division, said.

Passengers get off the vessel Dream, a cruise ship that left from Tianjin, China, at Jeju Port on April 30. [YONHAP]

Jeju Island, which unlike Busan does not require visas for Chinese tourists, has been visited by many Chinese tour groups coming on cruise ships since last year. The Blue Dream Star, operated by China’s Blue Dream Cruises, made its first trip from Shanghai to Jeju on Aug. 31. Chinese group tourists have been going to Jeju by both air and sea since then.

Over 5 million tourists visited Jeju this year as of May 16, according to the Jeju Tourism Association, three days earlier than the milestone's surpassing on May 19 last year. Among the total number of tourists, 636,699 are foreigners. This is a 411 percent increase from last year’s 124,596 foreign tourists who visited the island over the same time period. Notably, the number of foreign tourists arriving by cruise ship is increasing: there were 28,000 in January, 29,000 in February and 61,000 in March. Around 80 percent of Jeju-bound ships leave from China, 12 percent depart from Japan, 5 percent are from worldwide ports and 2 percent are marked as miscellaneous.

The Jeju government says 89 cruise ships have docked at the island as of May 20. A total of 310 cruise fleets are scheduled to call at Jeju’s ports this year. With the increase in direct flights from overseas as well as the boom in the cruise industry, foreigners are leading the island’s tourism growth this year.

“With the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and Jeju's nature being highlighted through Hallyu, such as Korean dramas, the cruise sea routes to Jeju are once again thriving,” said Kim Bo-hyung, head of Jeju Tourism Association’s information center. "We will work on developing Jeju tourism packages that cruise tourists will want, based on Jeju's nature, culture and history."

BY WI SUNG-WOOK, CHOI CHUNG-IL [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]