South Korea Reports 206,542 Foreign Cruise Arrivals in May, First Monthly Total Above 200,000

South Korea recorded 206,542 foreign cruise passengers and crew disembarking in May, the first time a monthly total surpassed 200,000, Yonhap reported July 6. The Korea Tourism Organization data showed a 13.4 percent increase from April and a 12.2 percent rise from May 2025. Monthly arrivals had risen from 56,000 in December 2025 to 57,000 in January 2026 and 112,000 in February.

Cumulative arrivals for January through May reached 709,000, a 5. Seogwipo recorded the highest port volume with 84,000 arrivals, followed by Busan with 78,000, Incheon with 25,000 and Jeju with 17,000. Chinese nationals accounted for 93,000 arrivals, or 45.1 percent of the total.

Visitors from the Philippines and Japan each totaled 23,000, while Indonesia contributed 17,000 and India 11,000. The 100,000-ton cruise ship Visio, carrying more than 1,500 Chinese tourists, docked at Daesan Port in Seosan on June 27.