Busan Port Authority stated that BPA, Korea Tourism Organization, and Busan Tourism Organization will co-host a seminar to promote Busan Port as a home port for cruise vessels in order to vitalize the local economy on the 16th at the Busan Port International Passenger Terminal Convention Center.
300 participants including BPA President WOO Ye-jong, Vice mayor for economic affairs KIM Young-hwan of Busan Metropolitan City, and KTO President JEONG Chang-soo will attend the seminar.
The number of tourists visiting Busan Port by cruise ships reached 0.57 million last year and 0.57 million tourists were anticipated to arrive in Busan Port this year as well. However, Beijing's restriction on its citizens' trips to South Korea triggered by deployment of THAAD, a U.S. missile defense system, the number of cruise tourists is likely to drop drastically.
BPA plans to operate a weekly cruise tour package departing from Busan International Passenger Terminal from April to October. Moreover, BPA anticipates to sell more than 50 cruise packages that leave from Busan Port next year.