From January to June, Korea Tourism Organisation recorded 899,839 cruise travelers, a surge of 122% year-on-year. Among the total, 652,756 were passengers and 246,783 were crew.
The number of calls also increased significantly, to 306 compared to 196 in the same period of 2015.
In particular, nine cruise vessels were new arrivals, including Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas and Skysea Cruises' Golden Era (ex Celebrity Century), which entered Donghae port in January for the first time.
The inflated cruise numbers over the first six months are expected to continue for the rest of this year, with the Busan Port Authority (BPA) anticipating more than 1.9m cruise tourists on 841 calls in 2016.
BPA and the country’s ministry of culture, sports and tourism have mapped out marketing strategies aimed at attracting nine major global liners to call at Korean ports.
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