South Korea on Thursday announced a set of measures aimed at developing the country’s marine leisure industry that include allowing the use of casinos on cruise ships by local residents.
The move comes only about four months after the National Assembly enacted a law allowing the establishment and operation of casinos on cruise ships carrying the South Korean flag, a move aimed at encouraging new private investment in the currently non-existent industry.
However, the latest revision failed to allow the use of casinos by local residents, an apparent disappointment for prospective investors.
“The government will soon submit a revision to the related law for a review by the parliament as we believe there is now a consensus on the need to allow the use of casinos by local residents,” Maritime Minister Yoo Ki-june told a press briefing.
Currently, all but only one casino in the country are strictly off-limits to local residents.
The cruise industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in Asia with the number of people in Asia embarking on cruise ship tours expected to reach over 7 million in 2020 from 1.37 million in 2013, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said in a press release.
The number of foreign tourists arriving in South Korea on cruise ships topped 1 million last year and is expected to reach 3 million in 2020.
“The government measures are aimed at providing timely support for the cruise industry and turning it into a new engine for the country’s economic growth,” it said.
Under its latest measures, the government will build five new cruise ship-only piers by 2016 while also working to improve immigration and customs services for foreign tourists arriving here on cruise ships.
In addition to the cruise industry, the government is also seeking to develop the country’s marine leisure industry.
First, the government will work to more than double the number of leisure yachts and boats to over 30,000 in 2020 from the current 12,985.
Such an increase will help create some 12,000 new jobs and over 1.5 trillion won ($1.39 billion) in income, according to the maritime ministry.
“The ministry plans to develop the marine leisure industry into a key business sector that will create 12,000 new jobs and a new growth engine for the country’s economy,” it said.
However, unlike previous measures that mainly sought to build new infrastructure for the industry, such as marina harbors, the latest plan also calls for efforts to promote marine leisure.
To this end, the ministry will transform the country’s marina harbors into places where anyone, without a personal yacht, can still experience and enjoy marine activities.
It will also consider lowering the bar for new yacht rental firms by reducing the minimum size of yachts or boats for rental to 2 tons from the current 5 tons.
This will increase the number of boats currently available for rental services to 2,400 from 800 when the minimum size is at 5 tons, according to the ministry.
The government will also continue working to expand infrastructure for the marine leisure industry.
Currently, there are 32 marina harbors with a combined capacity of 1,750 boats, which represents less than 15 percent of the total 12,985 yachts and boats in the country.
The ministry will work to increase the number of marina harbors and their overall capacity to over 6,000 ships in 2020. (Yonhap)
