Busan is good

Busan Welcomes the Year’s First Worldwide Cruise: AIDAdiva Makes Its First Call at Busan Port

내용

Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that the worldwide cruise ship AIDAdiva will make its first call at Busan Port today (12) at 8:00 a.m. It is the first worldwide cruise ship to visit Busan this year.

A “worldwide cruise” is a large-scale cruise travel product that connects major ports around the world and travels across multiple continents and countries. AIDAdiva, carrying about 2,000 passengers, will be calling at Busan Port for the first time this year.

The arrival of a worldwide cruise ship is significant as an example of route diversification within Busan’s existing cruise operation structure, which has largely been centered on Northeast Asia routes.

AIDAdiva is a 69,000-ton vessel operated by the German cruise line AIDA Cruises. The ship departed the Port of Hamburg, Germany, on November 20 last year and has been sailing a 133-day itinerary calling at Canada, the United States, Portugal, Japan, Taiwan, and other destinations.

After departing Honolulu, United States—its previous port of call—at 02:00 on January 1, the ship arrived at Busan Port at 08:00 today (12), and is scheduled to depart later the same day at 18:00 bound for Tokyo, Japan.

The roughly 2,000 cruise passengers are expected to visit downtown Busan and major tourist attractions, and many passengers are reportedly European nationals from countries such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Passengers plan to tour major attractions in Busan, including Beomeosa Temple, Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, Gamcheon Culture Village, and Jagalchi Market.

To welcome AIDAdiva’s first call at Busan, the City will hold a commemorative welcome ceremony today (12) at 09:00 at the North Port Cruise Terminal in Busan Port. The event will consist of a presentation of a commemorative plaque and traditional performances, and will be held privately as the terminal interior is a secured area.

For the commemorative plaque presentation, the City will board the ship and present the plaque to representatives of the cruise line. For the performances, from 09:00 to 10:30 (90 minutes), K-pop dance performances, traditional instruments, and traditional dance performances will be staged at the North Port Cruise Terminal to offer visitors a special and memorable experience during their stay in Busan.

Meanwhile, in 2025, meaningful achievements were recorded as numerous cruise ships called at Busan Port, supported by efforts to revitalize cruise tourism.

In 2025, the City successfully established an operational framework for the semi-homeport operations of the large cruise ship MSC Bellissima, marking its first step toward becoming an international cruise homeport city, and worked to expand shore-excursion tourism content and improve reception readiness.

A semi-homeport is an operating model that combines the functions of a port of call (a port where a ship makes a brief stop en route to its destination) and a homeport, whereby some passengers embark and disembark at the port of call—blending elements of a homeport (where both departures and arrivals take place) with those of a port of call focused solely on sightseeing itineraries.

Building on this momentum, the City plans to continue its efforts to establish itself as a global cruise tourism city this year as well, advancing cruise tourism revitalization projects centered on building a homeport base, revitalizing port-of-call tourism, and enhancing visitor convenience.

In addition, the number of cruise calls from China is projected to increase from 8 calls last year to 173 calls this year, and Busan Port is expected to welcome a total of 420 calls and about 900,000 tourists.

Mayor Park Heong-joon said, “We warmly welcome the arrival of this new worldwide cruise ship in Busan, and I extend my sincere gratitude to all cruise tourists visiting Busan Port.” He added, “Busan Metropolitan City will continue to concentrate its efforts to ensure that cruise tourists can fully experience the appeal of Busan as a global tourism hub city and feel it is a city they would like to visit again—by developing differentiated port-of-call tourism content and improving tourism infrastructure.”