

Accordingly, it can be defined as a “trip for the purpose of pure tourism rather than transportation that uses ships, equipped with facilities necessary for various levels of accommodations, food and restaurant facilities, and various recreational activities, that safely cruise regularly or irregularly to Korean and international ports or ports of call, while providing high-quality tourism services.”
Cruise tourism started in 1960, and by 1970, the number of cruise passengers worldwide reached 500 thousand. By the late 1970s, that number exceeded 1 million. The cruise industry has developed rapidly since the 1970s, and the number of cruise passengers worldwide exceeded 25 million in 2017. The average annual growth rate of cruise tourism was about 8.5%, higher than the average rate of global tourists (3.8%).
In the case of Korea, the number of foreign cruise tourists visiting Korea is on a downward trend, reaching a maximum of 2 million in 2016. The decrease in Chinese cruise tourists due to economic coercion from the THAAD dispute in 2017 had a direct impact on the overall decrease in cruise tourists. Due to the impact of COVID-19 in 2020, Korean cruise tourists are only about 0.15% compared to 2016.


Year | Number of Arrival Of vessels(ships) | Number of Tourists | Year-on-Year Change(%) |
---|---|---|---|
2011 | 149 | 153,193 | -0.8 |
2012 | 223 | 278,369 | 81.7 |
2013 | 433 | 698,945 | 151.1 |
2014 | 311 | 954,685 | 36.6 |
2015 | 356 | 1.045.876 | 9.6 |
2016 | 698 | 2.258.334 | 115.9 |
2017 | 231 | 505.283 | -77.6 |
2018 | 122 | 217,944 | -56.9 |
2019 | 152 | 278,751 | 27.9 |
2020 | 3 | 3.489 | -98.7 |


The cruise industry consists of pre- and post-cruise tourism, ports of call tourism, shopping for souvenirs, duty-free goods, and various goods, and shopping for crew members. It is an industry, where cruise lines enter ports and purchase various products needed for cruise operation, such as food materials, hotel supplies, refueling, water supply, product supply, and cleaning. Also, it incurs costs for various services that support global cruise operations, including travel agency fees, advertising and promotional fees, and other professional and business service fees.
According to a report by the Korea Tourism Organization (2020)[1], the economic impact of the global cruise industry is $154.5 billion, the number of tourists is 29.7 million, job creation is 1,166,000 people, and wages are $50.53 billion as of 2019. As of 2018, it was recorded that global cruise passengers spend $376 per person before boarding and $101 per person at the port of call, for a total of $68 billion.
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (2017) announced that cruise tourism in 2016 generated a total of 5.4 trillion won in economic effect and that there was an effect of inducing employment of about 24,000 people.


Category | Major Economic Ripple Effect | Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|
Local Economic | - The entering of 1.95 million cruise tourists to the port resultted in the consumer spending effect of KRW 2,465 trillion, the production inducing effect of KRW 3.4 trillon, and employment inducement of 24,000 people - Committed 52 thousand 40-seater tour buses and 52 thousand tour guides per year in the port of call | - Consumer spending:KRW 2,465 trillon (Tourism and shopping: KRW 2.16 trillion + port income: KRW 19.7 billion + supplies for wvessels:KRW 10.3 billion.) - Production inducement:KRW 3.4463 trillion (consumer spending: KRW 2.4 trillion X production induction multiplier: 1.6840) - 791 curse ships arrived in port. port facilty fee, port service such as tugboats and pilot boat resulted in port revenue of KRW 19.7 billion. | |
Ocean Transport(FCL/LCL) | -791 cruise ships arrived in port, port factlity fee, port services such as tugboats and pilot boat resulted in port revenue of KRW 19,7 billion-Port fee including berthing fee: KRW 8.7 billion, passenger terminal fee: KRW 4,4 billion, tugboat and pilot boat fee: KRW 4.8 billion, port services including drinking water:KRW 1.8 billion | -port revenue KRW 7.8 billion('15) -> KRW 19.7 billion ('16) -> KRW 27,4 billion('17) -> KRW 50 billion ('20) | |
Ocean Transport(FCL/LCL) | - Achieved KRW 10.3 billion in overseas exports by reinforcing competitiveness and marketing activities such as safety (compared to china) and low price(compared to Japan) of Korean products | -Supplied KRW 9 billion of food supplies (fruits, vegetables rice, meat, etc) KRW 800 million of room supplies such as bottled water, KRW 500 million of duty-free items such as cosmetics to foreign cruise ships |
After COVID-19, cruises have been hit hard by the rest of the tourism industry. Compared to 2019, it was analyzed that the number of passengers decreased by 81%, and the jobs in relevant industries[4] decreased by 51%. The economic effect was reduced by 59%.


Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has analyzed three scenarios. Despite the decline in tourists in the aftermath of COVID-19, CLIA expects a rapid recovery to a pre-COVID-19 by the end of 2022, which is an upside scenario, and the end of 2024, which is a downside scenario. They are optimistic about the reopening of cruises in the future.


To develop a stable cruise industry, a certain level of demand in Korea is required. In addition, marketing and strategies that can induce cruise arrivals from overseas based on various nationalities are necessary rather than a strategy to attract tourists from a specific country. Also, referring to the cases of developed countries, there are increased interest and demand for various activities at sea in the era of earning incomes of U.S. 30,000 dollars or more. In Korea, activities such as sailing and fishing are active on the coast. However, interest in cruises is low compared to other sea activities, as there are no cruise ships serving Korea as their home port. Therefore, promoting the cruise service with the home port in Korea is considered the most advisable direction to foster the cruise industry of Korea and bring about a stabilizing effect.
[2] ‘The Diamond Princess’ is a 120,000-ton cruise ship with a total length of 290.2m, a width of 37.49m, and a height of 62.48m, with 13 decks, equivalent to three soccer fields.
[3] Out of a total of 3,711 people (2,666 passengers and 1,045 crew), 705 were confirmed to be positive.
[4] Port, ports of call, service companies, travel agencies, and associated small businesses
[5] Pohang International Cruise Pilot Project (2016-2020)
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- Professor of Pai Chai University.
- Department of Trade Logistics Former Profiler of National Intelligence Service.
- Logistics Team Leader of Jeonnam Provincial Office.
- and port Team Leader of Seo-san City Hall Participated in research and business in various fields including logistics as an expert in international logistics and shipping