Cities attempt to grab Yeosu visitors

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Cities attempt to grab Yeosu visitors

Some local governments are hoping to siphon off visitors to the 2012 Yeosu Expo, which opens May 12 and runs for 93 days, by establishing cruises that connect their cities with Yeosu.

The Busan City Government announced yesterday it is pushing ahead with a new route for the cruise ship Club Harmony between Busan and Yeosu in an attempt to attract visitors to the expo. Yeosu expects about 8 million visitors in total.

The city government said it expects foreign visitors who can’t find accommodation in Yeosu to use the cruise to stay in five-star hotels in Busan.

“We will start discussing the plan with the Club Harmony within this month,” said an official at the Busan City Government. “It has not been fixed but there have been positive comments from the cruise operator so there’s a high possibility for the new route to open.”

“We are positively looking at proposals of sailing between Yeosu and Busan as well as Yeosu and South Jeolla,” said Han Hee-seung, president of the cruise operator Harmony Cruise.

Busan said the tourists will have plenty to see locally, including the Jagalchi Fish Market, Yongdu Mountain, Lotte Duty Free Store store and Beomeo Temple.

South Gyeongsang said it is also planning to benefit from the expo, including operating a similar cruise route between Yeosu and its west port to attract at least 3 million visitors.

The South Gyeongsang Provincial Government said that four cruise ships have applied to operation routes to Yeosu and the results will be announced at the end of this month.

“I am very certain that the new cruise route between Yeosu and Namhae will be established,” said Park Seong-han, an official from South Gyeongsang Provincial Government.


By Wee Sung-wook [sharon@joongang.co.kr]



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