Last December, China’s Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Culture and Tourism launched a full-scale effort to foster cruise consumption, starting with the “Measures (Plan) for Promoting the Development of Cruise Transportation and Tourism Services.” The plan includes 10 provisions, such as expanding the development of domestic cruise coastal routes, streamlining port call procedures, and offering tax incentives for ship registration. Based on this plan, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council established Huaxia International Cruise as a cruise operation platform for central state-owned enterprises and incorporated companies such as Adora Cruise—which operates the first domestically built large cruise ship, the “Aida Modu” (Adora Magic City)—to form Asia’s largest fleet.
As a result, the domestic market share of Chinese-capitalized cruise lines—which had been less than 10% before the COVID-19 pandemic—soared to 40% last year. Meanwhile, cruise ship calls at the Port of Shanghai last year increased by 17.5% compared to 2024, reaching 544 calls, while the number of passengers rose by 35.1% to 1,857,000. With the second domestically built large cruise ship, the “Aida Huacheng,” set to begin service in Guangzhou by the end of this year, the Chinese cruise industry is expected to continue its growth for the foreseeable future.
The Chinese government’s support for its domestic cruise industry is creating a trickle-down effect for South Korea’s cruise industry. Since cruises are itineraries that depart from a home port and visit ports in neighboring countries before returning, the increase in ships departing from China creates a greater need for foreign ports of call along the way.
In fact, the number of cruise ship calls in South Korea is on the rise. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the number of calls by two Chinese cruise lines—Adora and Tianjin Oriental—is projected to increase 2.8-fold, from 165 calls last year to 457 calls (forecast) this year. Adora Cruises’ calls jumped from 101 to 213, while Tianjin Oriental International Cruises’ calls rose from 64 to 244. Last year, the two carriers carried approximately 468,000 passengers; this year, based on an average of about 920,000 passengers per call, that number is estimated to nearly double.
The number of calls by Chinese cruise lines at regional ports has also increased significantly. While no Chinese cruise ships called at the Port of Incheon last year, the number has risen to 8 voyages carrying 40,000 passengers this year. At the Port of Busan, the number of Chinese cruise ship calls is also projected to increase from 8 voyages (40,000 passengers) last year to 165 voyages (450,000 passengers) this year.
The recent rise in the number of Chinese cruise lines heading to South Korea is partly due to diplomatic tensions between China and Japan. An official from the Korea Tourism Organization explained, “One of the reasons for the significant increase in the number of Chinese cruise calls this year is that cruises departing from China that were originally headed for Japan have redirected to South Korea due to the China-Japan conflict.”
Contrary to concerns raised by some quarters about growing dependence on China, the demand for cruise tourists visiting Korea is becoming more diverse. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the proportion of Chinese passengers among cruise arrivals fell from 92.2% in 2016 to 67.8% last year and to 65.2% from January to May of this year. The explanation is that while cruises from China are surging, calls by global cruise lines—such as Royal Caribbean (64 calls this year)—are also increasing, thereby expanding the market as a whole.
Yoon Ju, a research fellow at the Korea Culture and Tourism Research Institute, said, “The market structure today is different from that of 2016, when the entire market would grind to a halt if China were to pull out,” adding, “Since a buffer zone has been created by global cruise lines, the increase in Chinese passenger volume should be viewed not as a risk but as a driving force for expanding the total market size.”
The key lies in how to channel this opportunity into local consumption. A cruise ship typically stays in port for 8 to 10 hours. For large cruise ships, with around 5,000 passengers boarding and disembarking at once, immigration and customs procedures alone can take up to four hours. For a ship docked for eight hours, this means half that time is spent at the pier. Reducing processing time is therefore the key to increasing sightseeing time and spending.
Local authorities, led by the Port Authority, are moving to expand facilities in preparation for the surging demand for Chinese cruise ships. Last month, Busan unveiled the “2030 Busan Port Cruise Industry Revitalization Plan,” setting a target of attracting 520 cruise calls and 1 million tourists by 2030. The plan calls for more than doubling the size of the CIQ zone and the waiting area at the North Port Cruise Terminal by the end of this year, as well as constructing a dedicated terminal capable of serving large ships carrying over 5,000 passengers as a homeport by 2030.
Incheon has strengthened its marketing efforts to attract Chinese cruise ships—including focusing on promoting Shanghai-based cruises and pushing to open a new Incheon–Tianjin route—while also boosting its immigration processing capacity from 1,000 to over 2,000 passengers per hour through a coordinated CIQ system.
There are also calls to reinstate the pilot program for the “Individual Cruise Passenger Landing Permit System.” The Cruise Passenger Landing Permit System is a program under which immigration authorities grant permission for a maximum of three days of shore leave—without individual visa screening—upon application by the captain or cruise operator, provided the passenger returns to the same ship. As a simplified visa-free system for cruise tourists, only group travelers are currently eligible for visa-free entry; Chinese tourists without individual visas are not permitted to disembark at all.
The industry argues that the issue of illegal overstay—the biggest hurdle to the individual tourist landing permit system—is already being kept to a minimum. An official from the Busan Cruise Industry Association stated, “According to a comprehensive survey conducted in the first half of this year, the unauthorized departure rate for cruises from China was less than 0.01%,” adding, “Now that the Chinese cruise industry is growing, this is precisely the time to actively consider resuming the program.”
