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| Passengers aboard the MS Westerdam cruise ship docked at Jeju Port arrive on the southern resort island on March 24. Courtesy of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province |
By Ko Dong-hwan
The waters around Jeju Island are busier than ever, as the country's No.1 tourism destination is increasingly sought by tourists and opened a new trade route with China to spur bilateral business exchanges.
The economic invigoration of Jeju is marked by visits from large cruise ships and a meeting in Qingdao on Sunday between its governor and the president of China's biggest seaport authority. The special self-governing provincial authority has dubbed this the "great comeback from COVID-19."
In March alone, the island was visited by five cruise ships together carrying over 6,200 passengers. MS Westerdam, an 82,000-ton, large luxury cruiser from the Netherlands, arrived in Jeju Port on the island's northern coast with 2,600 passengers on March 24. Coming from Busan with tourists from the United States, Canada, Australia and England, the cruise ship spent nine hours on the island before heading to Kagoshima in the Japanese Prefecture of Kyushu.
Silver Whisper, Seven Seas Explorer, MS Nautica and Amadea all made visits from March 16 to 25, each with over 400 passengers and smaller numbers of crew. Once the cruise ships docked, almost 1,000 passengers aboard set foot on the island to visit local street markets, temples, museums for sea women ("haenyeo" in Korean) and other folklore heritage and urban spots in Jeju City, according to the Bureau of Maritime-Fisheries Affairs under the provincial government.
"The seaways started opening wide after COVID-19, offering momentum to the cruise tourism business here," said Jung Jae-chul, the chief of the maritime fisheries affairs bureau. "We are mixing and matching departments right now so that the prospects link up to boost the local economy."
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| Jeju Governor Oh Young-hun, left, shakes hands with Shandong Port Group Chairman Huo Gaoyuan after signing a deal in Qingdao, Sunday, to open up a new sea trade route connecting the Korean island and Qingdao Port in Shandong Province. Courtesy of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province |
Jeju Governor Oh Young-hun visited Qingdao in Shandong Province and met Shandong Port Group Chairman Huo Gaoyuan, Sunday. Managing Qingdao Port, Rizhao Port, Yantai Port and Bohai Bay Port in the eastern Chinese province, the company is China's biggest port operator with 19 port areas, 324 production berths and 60,000 employees. It handled 1.6 billion tons of containers, generating 3 trillion yuan ($436 billion) worth of export and import trade.
The meeting led to the signing of a direct route between Jeju Port and Qingdao Port. Huo said the new sea trade route has the potential to introduce "more tourism packages, trade and maritime services achievable by cooperation between the local governments of Shandong and Jeju," according to the Jeju provincial government.
"Qingdao, not only geographically but also according to Chinese policies, is where maritime silk roads and land silk roads intersect," Huo said. "The city has a lot to offer to Korea."
The Jeju governor said the southern resort island is now transforming itself into a global hub of green hydrogen platforms and can benefit from the advanced technology at Qingdao Port, such as automation systems, hydrogen refueling stations and 5G-based crane operation.
"As the most popular travel destination for Chinese, Jeju, with the help of the new sea trade route open, will expand the travel ways between two provinces and offer more benefits to our local products like processed foods and cosmetics to the market in China," Oh said.
The Jeju authority said Qingdao port is the best chance for the island to expand its sea trade at the earliest timeline.
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