Incheon Port Cruise Arrival Stretch... Incheon City, Workforce Training Education

Cruise ship 'Regatta'
[Photo provided by Incheon City]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City is preparing to train professionals ahead of the resumption of cruise ship arrivals at Incheon Port for the first time in about three years since the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 16th, the city announced that it will recruit 50 trainees for the '2022 Cruise Tourism Service Workforce Training Project' in collaboration with the Incheon Tourism Organization and Incheon Port Authority.

Recruitment is open until next month 24th for job seekers, travel agency employees, and students of the International Tourism High School, followed by online training from July 15 to August 4 on topics such as practical work in the cruise tourism industry, marketing of cruise tourism products by travel agencies, and responses to COVID-19 situations.

The city plans to select four graduates from the training program to provide onboard practical training opportunities during cruise arrivals and support their employment.

Although cruise calls at Incheon were suspended after October 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 30,000-ton American Oceania cruise ship 'Regatta (MS Regatta)' is scheduled to arrive at Incheon Port this October.

Additionally, from March to October next year, seven cruise ships including the 55,000-ton 'Seven Seas Explorer' from Norwegian Cruise Line and the 42,000-ton 'Europa' from Germany's Hapag-Lloyd are planning to call at Incheon Port.

In preparation for the recovery of the cruise industry after COVID-19, Incheon City participated last month in the world's largest cruise trade fair, 'Seatrade Cruise Global', held in Miami, USA, operating an Incheon promotional booth and strengthening cruise attraction marketing.

Moreover, the Incheon Port Authority is actively promoting the geographical advantages of Incheon Port, which has the largest cruise terminal facilities in Korea, and nearby metropolitan tourist attractions, targeting shipping companies and travel agencies for world cruise attraction marketing.

The authority has also set up a non-face-to-face cruise promotional booth using a metaverse (virtual world) platform and operates a marine tourism support group composed of citizens with diverse experiences.

Cruise tourism in Incheon was activated around the time of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, with 95 cruise ships calling in 2013, 92 in 2014, 53 in 2015, and 62 in 2016.

However, due to the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) conflict in 2017, many Chinese cruise calls to Incheon were canceled, resulting in only 17 cruise ships in 2017, 10 in 2018, and 10 in 2019 visiting Incheon.