Busan Port becomes the first home port of the cruise ship Skysea Golden Era
Busan Port Authority stated on the 8th that Busan Port became the first home port of the cruise ship, Skysea Golden Era, since the opening of the International Passenger Terminal, BPA said in its press release.
1,800 Chinese tourists will disembark q-from Skysea Golden Era, a 72 thousq-and ton cruise ship registered in Malta, at Donghae Port Gangwon-do on the 7th q-and 700 Korean tourists will board the ship. The cruise ship will travel via Nagasaki q-and return to Busan Port International Passenger Terminal on the 11th.
Being a home port for cruise ships is known to bring triple the economic ripple effect than that of a port of call because passengers will shop, tour, q-and require accommodations in Busan.
Costa Victoria is scheduled to choose Busan Port as its home port 4 times in May q-and June. In addition, Busan Port is scheduled to be an inter-port 12 times during the peak season for cruise ships, q-from July to September.
To attract more cruise ships at Busan Port, BPA will make various efforts including offering 30 percent discount for port facility usage charges such as port due q-and dockage. Furthermore, BPA will construct a cruise only CIQ q-and host Asia's largest international cruise ship convention in May.
BPA q-and Busan City q-jointly singed the "Agreement of Charter Cruise" with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 2014. Around 3,000 passengers departed q-from Youngdo International Cruise Terminal q-and traveled to Shanghai q-and Okinawa for seven days as part of the charter cruise incentive tour.
Last year, the number of cruise ships that entered Busan Port was merely 71 with 0.162 million tourists because of outbreaks of MERS. The port authority expects to attract 226 cruise ships with over 40,000 tourists, triple the number of last year's port entry.
