According to Yonhap News,
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Sang-seo – The number of foreign nationals visiting South Korea aboard cruise ships surpassed 200,000 in a single month for the first time in history this past May.
According to data from the Korea Tourism Organization’s 'Korea Tourism Data Lab' on the 6th, cruise arrivals to Korea reached 206,542 as of May, marking a 13.4 percent increase from the previous month. This represents a 12.2 percent growth compared to the same period last year.
Cruise statistics are compiled by combining foreign passengers and crew members who arrived in Korea via cruise vessels and received shore excursion permits.
Cruise arrivals to Korea have steadily expanded, starting at 56,000 last December before rising to 57,000 in January and 112,000 in February of this year, ultimately breaking through the 200,000 threshold in May for the first time since data collection began.
The cumulative number of cruise visitors from January to May of this year reached 709,000, up 5.9 percent from the same period last year. Given this momentum, total annual arrivals could outstrip those of 2025, which set an all-time annual high of 1.6 million visitors.
By port of entry as of May, Seogwipo Port recorded the highest traffic with 84,000 visitors, followed by Busan Port (78,000), Incheon Port (25,000), Jeju Port (17,000), and Sokcho Port (2,000). Arrivals through Jeju Island accounted for nearly half of the total figure.
By age group, visitors in their 30s led the tally (50,000), followed by those in their 20s (47,000), 60s (30,000), 40s (25,000), 70s (22,000), and 50s (20,000).
By nationality, China accounted for 45.1 percent of the total with 93,000 visitors. The Philippines (23,000) and Japan (23,000) followed, alongside Indonesia (17,000) and India (11,000).
The total number of cruise ship dockings stood at 65, with an average of 3,177 passengers on board per vessel.
shlamazel@yna.co.kr
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Source: Yonhap News (July 06, 2026)
** This article was translated from Korean.