Published : Nov. 1, 2016 - 13:45
South Korea will step up efforts to lure more cruise travelers from Chinese-speaking countries to grab a bigger chunk of the fast-growing tourism sector, the state-run tourism agency said Tuesday.
The Korea Tourism Organization said it will hold a "Korea Cruise Travel Mart" on Wednesday at the JW Marriott Hotel in Seoul with chiefs of 19 cruise travel agencies from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The event, the third of its kind, is aimed at introducing major Korean ports to overseas travel agencies, industry officials and discussing ways to jointly develop package travel programs with them.
The KTO said 150 Korean officials from tourism, ports and provincial governments will have consultation sessions with chiefs from 15 travel agencies in the mainland, including Ctrip and Tuniu Corp, and four firms from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The Chinese officials will go on a three-day trip from Thursday to visit the southern port cities of Busan and Yeosu, to get first-hand experience, it noted.
"As the number of inbound cruise passengers is fast rising, the cruise travel industry should turn the main focus from expansion to improving the quality of service," Seol Kyung-hee, a KTO official, said. "We expect the cruise travel mart to promote the development of quality package programs by taking advantage of tourism resources near the major ports."
The number of cruise passengers visiting South Korea surpassed
1.48 million in the first nine months of this year and is expected to break 2 million in 2016, according to the maritime ministry data. The latest figure was up 130 percent from 2015 and 66 percent from 2014, as more Chinese travelers visited South Korea via cruise package programs. (Yonhap)