Korea eyes 2 million cruise visitors as industry forum convenes aboard mega-ship

Industry officials gathered to discuss concrete steps toward drawing 2 million cruise tourists to South Korea annually.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced Monday that they held the 21st Cruise Development Council meeting aboard Royal Caribbean's 169,000-ton Spectrum of the Seas on June 5, after the vessel docked at Busan Port. It marked the first time the council has convened on an operating cruise ship.

The meeting aimed to strengthen cooperation with global cruise lines and develop strategies to boost domestic cruise tourism. About 90 industry officials attended and discussed ways to invigorate port-of-call tourism.

The Korea Tourism Organization unveiled its "2026 Cruise Tourism Promotion Project Plan," updated to reflect a supplementary budget. Key initiatives include participation in a joint port-of-call exhibition and trade fair, familiarization tours for cruise line representatives, and a joint marketing campaign with Royal Caribbean. Discussions also focused on providing tailored services at each stage — arrival, disembarkation and stay — to encourage tourists to spend in local communities.

A recent pilot program illustrated the approach. When the Spectrum of the Seas called at Busan on May 12, the Korea Tourism Organization and Royal Caribbean operated a crew-only K-beauty shuttle bus connecting the terminal to Seo-myeon Medical Street. As a result, the crew disembarkation rate rose from 29 percent to 49 percent.

Participants also shared port-specific strategies and heard recommendations from a global cruise line executive. Incheon presented its case for attracting homeport operations, while Busan highlighted overnight itineraries and product development tied to local festivals. Jeju, Yeosu, Sokcho and the Saemangeum Development Agency each shared tailored regional strategies. Wendy Yamazaki, Royal Caribbean's Asia-Pacific vice president, delivered a presentation on key priorities for growing South Korea's cruise industry from a global operator's perspective.

"Based on the discussions at this council meeting, the public and private sectors and academia will work together to do our utmost to attract cruise tourists," said Han Yeo-ok, head of the Korea Tourism Organization's International Tourism Content Division. "We will expand our global network and pursue all-out marketing to achieve the goal of 2 million inbound cruise tourists at the earliest possible date."