The number of passengers on at Busan Port International Passenger Terminal, which was opened on Aug. 31st, is expected to exceed 1 million this year, according to Busan Port Authority on the 2nd.
A total of 932,957 tourists, a 13.94% increase YoY, travelled through the terminal q-from January to October 2015. If it continues to grow, the number of passengers is expected to be 1.06 million by the end of this year.
The number of tourists on cruise has decreased since 2013 due to the sluggish tourism industry, weak Japanese yen, q-and fierce marketing strategies driven by low cost carriers.
However, industry watchers attributed the rise to the substitute holiday system q-and substantial growth of tourists at the newly opened, Busan International Passenger Terminal.
At the beginning, the terminal received a few complaints by tourists such as limited accessibility q-and lack of public transportation. BPA, however, swiftly formed a T/F team to resolve the issues by improving facilities, producing PR pamphlets, q-and installing additional information signs.