Jeju Island South Korea To Launch Cruise Ship Terminal In May

Jeju Island. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Korean Culture and Information Service Korea.net/Jeon Han)

JAKARTA - South Korea will start operating a cruise ship terminal known as a terminal on Jeju's southern resort island in May to increase regional tourism.

The terminal allows passengers to ride and descend at various points during the cruise travel plan, unlike the ferry port, where passengers usually descend for several hours before the ship continues its journey to its next destination, quoted from The Korea Times April 25.

So far, Jeju Harbor and Seogwipo Port Gangjeong have served as ports of stopovers for cruise ships. Passengers will take off for short tours or shop for about four to six hours before boarding again.

Therefore, so that Koreans can enjoy shipping tours in Jeju, they usually have to use the "fly and sail" method, travel to other countries and then start their voyage from there.

Jeju's Own Government Province believes that introducing inter-island ports to the island will not only increase the convenience of cruise ship tourism for Korean citizens, but also stimulate the demand to travel to the island before and after boarding the ship, which will ultimately benefit the local economy.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as well as the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries will prepare an automatic border control system at Gangjeong Port and discuss customs issues, immigration control, and quarantine with related institutions.

The ministry will first test the inter-island port at Gangjeong Harbor, with plans to expand its operations in the future to other domestic cruise ship ports, such as Jeju Port.

Starting May 1, Adora Magic City, a 135,000-ton ship from the Chinese state-owned Adora Cruises, will depart from Shanghai, heading to Jeju and Japan.

In a five to six-day trip plan, Koreans will be able to board a ship in Jeju, visit Japan and Shanghai, then return to Jeju.

Jeju will receive 33 visits from Adora Magic City by the end of this year, with rooms on each trip for 60 to 120 Koreans.

The ministry plans to expand Jeju's interport services for foreign nationals in the future.

"Marine tourism, including cruise tourism, is a key factor in revitalizing new regional tourism," said Culture Minister Yu In-chon.

"We will actively cooperate with the relevant ministries and local governments to find marine tourism content to revitalize the local economy," he said.

It is known that the southern resort island has experienced recovery in the number of visitors to come, with a steady increase in cruise ship tourism in 2023 after a two-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jeju received 101,000 passengers from 71 voyages in 2023, this figure increased to 641,000 visitors from 274 cruises in 2024. This year, this figure is estimated to reach 800,000 passengers from 346 voyages.