0.25 million cruise tourists are expected to visit Busan Port next year

250 thousand cruise tourists will visit Busan Port next year, and it will be the highest record ever.

Busan Port Authority (BPA) stated that anticipated cruise calls will reach 143, increasing 43% from this year, and the number of cruise tourists is expected to be 250 thousand.

Marina (0.14t) of RCCL (Royal Caribbean Cruises), Voyager (0.14t) and Atlantica (0.08t) of Costa Cruise, and Victoria (0.075t) plan to make 30, 16, 22, and 23 calls respectively.

In particular, the Marina and Victoria are planning to use Busan Port as their mother port, hence it will have a great economic effect on the local economy. In addition, there will be 29 instances when two cruise vessels will enter Busan Port simultaneously, and three cruise ships will enter Busan Port at the same time twice

The number of port entries made by cruise vessels has grown 31.6% from 2009 to 2013, and the number of tourists has also increased eight times to 196 thousand from 26 thousand in 2009.

Cruise vessels entered Busan Port 99 times this year. The economic effect triggered by port charges and tourists?expenditures from these vessels reached 158 billion won. < Korea Shipping Gazette >