- On March 19, Hapag-Lloyd's EUROPA 2 arrives in Incheon Port -
- Welcome event followed by a trip to Incheon’s top tourist attractions, including Sinpo Market and Wolmido Island -
With the worst of COVID-19 now in the rearview mirror, a cruise ship has sailed into Incheon for the first time in three years.
The Incheon Metropolitan City Government (Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok) announced that Hapag-Lloyd’s EUROPA2 (43,000 ton class), a German cruise ship, carrying a total of 914 people, including 544 passengers and 370 crew members, arrived in Incheon on the morning of March 19.
EUROPA 2 previously departed from Hong Kong on March 10, and sailed to Okinawa, Nagasaki, and Busan before making the trip up to Incheon. Next up on its itinerary are Osaka, Shimizu, and Tokyo in Japan.
The Incheon Metropolitan City Government, Incheon Port Authority, Incheon Regional Office of Oceans and Fisheries, and the Incheon Tourism Organization celebrated the first cruise ship to enter its waters since the COVID-19 crisis with a welcome event at Pier 1 of the Incheon Inner Harbor on 7:30 am when passengers disembarked from EUROPA 2. The event featured a Korean traditional music ensemble performance, a traditional costume-wearing event, and a Korean calligraphy class.
To mark the occasion, the City Government, Port Authority, and the Korea Tourism Organization handed out EUROPA 2’s first passenger, the captain, and a handful of other crew members a commemorative plaque, leis, and souvenirs.
After the event, passengers took a tour of some of Incheon’s top tourist destinations, including Sinpo Market and Wolmido Island, before departing at 8:00 pm that day.
The Mayor said, “We’re really glad to see a cruise ship sailing into our port for the first time in three years. Incheon is the perfect city for ‘Fly & Cruise’ travelers since it has a cruise terminal capable of fitting the world's largest (225,000 ton class) vessels and Korea's largest international airport that serves as a hub for Northeast Asia.” He added, “We will do everything we can to support our tourism industry by developing various tourism products to attract and appeal to these cruise packages.”
Meanwhile, a dozen cruises, including the EUROPA 2, are scheduled to stop over at Incheon Port this year. On April 7, the MEIN SCHIFF 5, a 98,000 ton ship of TUI CRUISE, is scheduled to arrive at Incheon’s Port Cruise Terminal, which is set to reopen soon, carrying about 28,000 passengers on board.
