Incheon Port Authority (IPA) is actively promoting overseas marketing by positioning Incheon Port as the optimal base for 'Fly & Cruise' operations. Fly & Cruise is a cruise product where passengers arriving through the airport board a cruise ship.
IPA announced on the 13th that it will strengthen marketing activities targeting overseas cruise lines from this month to expand the number of cruise base (departure) operations linking Incheon Port and the airport to more than 20 sailings next year.
Kim Sang-gi, Vice President of the Operations Division, visited the headquarters of NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) and Celebrity Cruise in the United States on the 8th and 9th, respectively, securing a total of 13 sailings for next year's Incheon Port cruise base operations, including 11 sailings by NCL and 2 by Celebrity, with plans to further expand in 2026.
NCL conducted a two-sailing pilot operation using Incheon Port as a base in March this year, and the results showed high satisfaction among cruise tourists due to shuttle services between the port and airport, baggage transport, terminal operations for customer convenience, and tourism in Incheon and the metropolitan area.
The cruise ships to be deployed next year are the 70,000-ton Norwegian Spirit and the 100,000-ton Celebrity Millennium, with a total of about 4,000 tourists and crew members arriving at Incheon Port, touring Incheon and the metropolitan area, and departing through Incheon Airport. Including tourists who enter through Incheon Airport in advance, tour the metropolitan area, and then board these cruises at Incheon Port for departure, the total number is expected to reach about 52,000 over 13 sailings.
Kim Sang-gi, Vice President of Operations at Incheon Port Authority, is visiting Royal Caribbean to conduct port sales. [Photo by Incheon Port Authority]
IPA also visited Royal Caribbean, one of the world's top four cruise lines, to promote cruise attraction activities.
Vice President Kim met with company executives to explain support plans for Fly & Cruise base operations, highlighting Incheon Port's strengths such as the geographical advantage between the cruise terminal and Incheon Airport, the largest cruise berth facilities in Korea, and cruise tourism routes based in Incheon, proposing a pilot operation next year.
Vice President Kim said, "We plan to continuously promote Incheon Port's strengths as a cruise base linked with the airport to global cruise lines such as Japan's MOL, Europe's Crystal Cruise, and Hapag-Lloyd. We will do our best to expand marketing efforts to make Incheon Port the central base in Northeast Asia."
The total number of cruise ships scheduled to call at Incheon next year is 30, including the 13 ships secured this time. This year, 16 ships are expected to call at Incheon.
Meanwhile, thanks to the increase in overnight cruises that dock for one night along with Fly & Cruise, the number of cruise tourists visiting Incheon in the first quarter of this year exceeded 6,000. Cruise passengers, which were only 275 until March last year, surged to 6,147 from January to March this year.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
