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Busan Metropolitan City to Extend Cruise Visitors’ Stays as Overnight Cruise Calls Gain Momentum with 24-Hour Terminal Operations

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Busan Metropolitan City, led by Mayor Chun Jae-soo, announced that since establishing Korea’s first 24-hour cruise terminal operating system this year, Busan has welcomed five overnight cruise calls to date, with two additional calls scheduled for September, continuing the trend of cruise vessels making extended stays in the city.

With restrictions on cruise terminal operating hours removed, cruise visitors can now explore Busan freely into the evening. Busan Metropolitan City is focusing its policy efforts on translating this opportunity into expanded local spending through nighttime tourism, dining, shopping, cultural tourism, and other activities.

In particular, the residential luxury cruise ship The World, which arrives today, September 18, will stay in Busan for three days and two nights. The call is expected to serve as a representative example of how 24-hour terminal operations can translate into longer visitor stays and increased local spending.

Busan Metropolitan City and the Busan Tourism Organization plan to use this port call not simply as an occasion to welcome the ship, but as an opportunity to demonstrate stay-oriented tourism that allows cruise visitors to experience “Busan’s nights and everyday life.”

An onboard tourist information desk will be operated so that passengers can explore Busan safely and independently not only in the morning and afternoon but also at night. Concierge services will also provide comprehensive tourism information needed for free independent travel, including information on taxis, currency exchange, shopping, and communications.

In particular, on September 19, nighttime tourism in Gwangalli will be supported for interested passengers to encourage nighttime experiences and local spending by cruise visitors.

The program will combine viewing the Gwangalli Drone Show with nearby sightseeing, allowing cruise visitors to enjoy Busan at night and encouraging spending at local businesses through dining, shopping, cultural tourism, and other activities.

Busan Metropolitan City is also accelerating efforts to invigorate nighttime tourism and attract more overnight cruises by taking advantage of the 24-hour operating environment at the Busan Port cruise terminal.

This year, cooperation among the Busan Port Authority and relevant agencies responsible for immigration, customs, and quarantine has enabled the cruise terminal to operate around the clock, creating the conditions needed to extend what had previously been daytime-focused shore excursions into the evening.

Building on this foundation, Busan Metropolitan City and the Busan Tourism Organization will continue developing nighttime tourism content and programs for extended stays. They also plan to strengthen customized marketing for global cruise lines by actively promoting Busan’s conditions for overnight port calls and its tourism content to cruise-line personnel responsible for itinerary planning, shore excursions, and port operations.

Rather than simply presenting a list of tourist attractions, Busan is working to diversify shore excursion products by packaging nighttime tourism, customized individual itineraries, dedicated transportation, local cuisine and performances, and onboard tourism information into integrated stay programs.

Following support for the call by The World, Busan Metropolitan City plans to continue expanding stay-oriented tourism that allows cruise visitors to experience “Busan at night,” including by providing special nighttime performance content for the overnight cruise ship Azamara Pursuit, which is scheduled to arrive on September 24.

Busan Metropolitan City will closely monitor the results of its support for the port calls by The World and Azamara Pursuit and use the findings as baseline data for attracting future overnight cruise calls and improving stay-oriented tourism programs.

Na Yun-bin, Director General of the Tourism and MICE Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City, said, “The competitiveness of cruise tourism is not simply about how many cruise ships call at a port, but about how long visitors stay and how deeply they experience Busan.”

He added, “Building on Korea’s first 24-hour cruise terminal operations, we will expand stay-oriented tourism that enables visitors to experience Busan by day and night, as well as its everyday life. We will also strengthen efforts to attract overnight cruises and develop distinctive shore excursion experiences unique to Busan so that more visitors can stay longer and experience more of the city.”