A record 64 cruise ships including the 75,000-ton Costa Victoria will use Incheon Port this year, according to the Incheon Port Authority.

Seven worldwide cruise operators including Europe’s Costa Cruise, China’s HNA, America’s Princess Cruise and Hong Kong’s Star Cruise will launch eights ships to Incheon Port this year, carrying about 80,000 passengers.

Given that a cruise ship causes 18.8 million won of expenditures for utilizing facilities at its single entry to a port and a passenger spends an average of 462,000 won, the cruise ships are expected to generate 37.1 billion won of economic benefits.

Costa Victoria will leave China with 1,150 passengers and enter Incheon via Jeju.

The authority plans to organize several celebration ceremonies and establish a tour information center for passengers.

Source: Yonhap News (Feb. 25, 2013)

** This is the translation of a Korean article.