Cruise Terminal

[Anchor Lead]

Korea's cruise season began as the year's first cruise ship entered the Port of Incheon. Once the nation's largest terminal exclusively for cruise ships opens next month, cruise tours through Incheon Port are expected to become more active.

[Pkg]

A super-luxury cruise ship weighing over 80,000 tons docks at Incheon Port. This is the first cruise ship in Korea this year. Some 2,000 tourists from the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world have disembarked.

[Soundbite] Manuel Mira(Spanish Tourist)

They become fascinated by Korean culture as they enjoy a gayageum performance and try on traditional Korean costumes. Eighteen cruise ships are scheduled to enter Incheon Port this year. Those ships are expected to bring roughly 50,000 tourists to the port. With the increase in the number of tourists on cruise ships, Korea's largest terminal exclusively for cruise vessels will open at Incheon Port next month.

[Soundbite] Nam Bong-hyun(President, Incheon Port Authority) : "The cruise ship-only terminal is cutting edge with moving corridors. It can move 200 meters horizontally and 13 meters vertically."

Once the international passenger terminal opens at the end of this year, a cruise ship and eight passenger vessels can make port at the same time. The city of Incheon is developing diverse tour products to attract cruise ship tourists. As peace settles between the two Koreas, the Incheon city government hopes to extend the scope of its tourism programs to the demilitarized zone and even as far as the Kaesong area in North Korea.