부산항 크루즈 승객 국적 다양화를 통한 활성화 방안에 대한 연구

Abstract

Abstract The port of Busan has been the center of Korea's logistics as the country's largest container port. In addition, Busan Port faithfully served as the starting point for major international routes to and from Japan even when diplomatic relations with North Korea and China were severed, and has kept its historic high value as an important base for connecting various island areas in Korea. However, as demand for international passengers has expanded around Incheon and Jeju since the establishment of diplomatic ties with China and the growth of low-cost airlines, Busan Port has lost its function in terms of passenger transportation due to the closure of domestic passenger routes and the suspension of coastal passenger terminals. The related industries and their workers around the port are facing a major crisis. In particular, Busan, a tourist city, has become more interested in revitalizing passengers as it has many connected industries such as accommodation, dining, duty-free and sales as well as the shipping and transportation industries related to passenger ships, and the need to promote the development of related industries by securing stable routes and passenger demand is steadily growing. Due to the recent Korean wave and the growing income of Chinese tourists, Busan is now facing a situation where attracting Chinese cruise tourists will emerge as a key task in creating demand for Busan port as demand for Korean-Chinese-Japanese cruise ships has increased due to the upward trend in the number of tourists staying in Incheon and Jeju. In recent years, however, the number of Chinese cruise tourists has plummeted due to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak and the Chinese government's Prohibition on group tours to South Korea following the deployment of THAAD, leading to the situation where the entire Korean cruise industry as well as the port of Busan is on the verge of being scrapped. This is because the domestic cruise industry has relied too much on Chinese cruise passengers, and since Busan port is comprised of about 80 percent of all cruise passengers, it has proved that it has a structural problem that will inevitably face a crisis whenever political and diplomatic conflicts arise between Seoul and Beijing. In fact, the Busan port cruise industry is on the decline, with various tourism sectors that have been rebounding in response to Chinese cruise passengers suffering from worsening profits and infrastructure such as the newly refurbished International cruise terminal being closed. Therefore, the need to create demand for cruise tours in more diverse countries and find cruise tourists in Korea through the launch of the cruise to the port of Busan is very important. Based on the context described above, this study critically analyzed how much the cruise industry in Busan depended on a particular country called China and explored the development strategy of the Busan port cruise industry in terms of sustainable development.