This study recognizes the cruise industry as a representative convergent maritime industry in which shipping, shipbuilding, ports, tourism, distribution, finance, and service industries are organically integrated, and aims to comprehensively analyze t...
This study recognizes the cruise industry as a representative convergent maritime industry in which shipping, shipbuilding, ports, tourism, distribution, finance, and service industries are organically integrated, and aims to comprehensively analyze the structural characteristics and economic effects of the Korean cruise industry. Existing domestic studies on the cruise industry have primarily focused on tourism-related perspectives, such as passenger demand, port-of-call spending, and regional tourism activation effects. In contrast, studies that define the cruise industry as an independent industrial system and analyze its economy-wide spillover effects across the entire industrial structure have been extremely limited. To address this gap, this research re-conceptualizes the cruise industry from a value chain perspective and applies input–output analysis to empirically estimate the production, value-added, and employment effects generated by the Korean cruise industry, thereby identifying its structural limitations and deriving policy implications. As the theoretical foundation of the study, Michael Porter’s value chain theory and input–output analysis were employed. To clarify the concept and scope of the cruise industry, an industrial structure framework was first proposed that divides the cruise industry into upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. The upstream sector includes cruise ship construction, marine equipment manufacturing, fuel and energy supply, and financial and insurance services. The midstream sector comprises cruise operators, port operations, travel agencies, and cruise operation and management services. The downstream sector includes tourism, accommodation, food and beverage services, transportation, and cultural and leisure services, centered on consumption activities by cruise passengers and crew members. Through this value chain structure, the cruise industry is theoretically established as a high value-added industry encompassing the broader maritime industrial system rather than merely a tourism activity. To analyze economic spillover effects, this study reviews the theoretical framework of input–output analysis and organizes the concepts and measurement methods of production-inducing effects, value-added-inducing effects, employment-inducing effects, and job-creation effects. It also identifies the limitations of simple expenditure-based analyses commonly used in tourism studies and emphasizes the necessity of an analytical framework capable of capturing inter-industry linkages inherent in the cruise industry. In the analysis of the global cruise industry, the industrial structures and economic effects of North America, Europe, and Asia were compared. North America has formed a homeport-centered industrial structure in which the headquarters and operational functions of global cruise companies are concentrated, allowing production, value-added, and employment effects to accumulate domestically. Europe maintains a high value-added cruise industry structure based on industrial clusters that integrate cruise shipbuilding, marine equipment manufacturing, and port service industries. In contrast, Asia is characterized by a port-of-call–centered structure, where the absence of national cruise operators and weak homeport functions result in limited economic effects from the cruise industry. Based on this international comparison, an analysis of the Korean cruise industry reveals that Korea continues to rely on port-of-call operations by foreign cruise companies. In the absence of national cruise operators, the midstream and upstream functions of the cruise industry have failed to become established domestically. Although some Korea-origin cruise products and short-term operation cases exist, their scale and continuity remain limited, making it difficult to form a self-sustaining industrial growth structure. As a result, the value chain of the Korean cruise industry is heavily concentrated in downstream tourism and consumption sectors, while industrial spillover effects into high value-added areas such as shipbuilding, finance, and vessel operations remain extremely limited. For the economic impact analysis, this study reclassified the cruise industry as an independent industrial sector not explicitly identified in conventional input–output tables. Direct expenditures were estimated based on domestic consumption by cruise passengers and crew members, domestic procurement expenditures by cruise companies, and operating expenditures by cruise travel agencies. These expenditures were then applied to input– output analysis to estimate the production-inducing, value-added-inducing, and employment-inducing effects of the Korean cruise industry. The results show that the cruise industry generates a certain level of production and value-added effects, with spillover effects concentrated mainly in service industries such as tourism, accommodation, food and beverage services, and transportation. However, employment-inducing and job-creation effects were found to be relatively low. This outcome is attributed to the employment structure of the cruise industry, which is largely dominated by foreign cruise operators and foreign crew members rather than domestic labor. In particular, a substantial portion of high value-added expenditures related to cruise ship construction, vessel operations, and onboard services occurs overseas, structurally limiting the diffusion of economic benefits into domestic industries. These findings indicate that while the Korean cruise industry fulfills its role as a tourism industry, it faces significant structural constraints in evolving into a strategic industry capable of driving the broader maritime economy. Comparative analysis with major cruise-producing countries further reveals that Korea’s cruise industry lags far behind North America and Europe in both absolute scale and structural composition of economic performance. In North America and Europe, the presence of national cruise operators and homeport-centered industrial structures enables cruise-related value added to accumulate domestically. In contrast, Korea’s port-of-call–centered structure results in substantial leakage of economic benefits abroad. This suggests that Korea’s cruise industry policies have focused primarily on attracting passengers and increasing port calls, while lacking a strategic approach aimed at transforming the industrial structure. In summary, although the Korean cruise industry generates a certain level of economic effects, it has not developed into a high value-added industry due to structural immaturity. The absence of national cruise operators, weak homeport functions, and insufficient linkages with upstream and midstream industries emerge as key structural factors constraining the development of the Korean cruise industry. To address these structural challenges, this study proposes several policy implications, including the establishment of national cruise operators and vessels, the development of a homeport-centered cruise operation system, differentiated strategies for ports of call, the promotion of cruise-related supply and service industries, and the strengthening of governance for the cruise industry. In particular, the study emphasizes the need to reconceptualize the cruise industry not as a short-term tourism promotion tool but as a national strategic maritime industry, supported by comprehensive mid- to long-term policies integrating shipping, shipbuilding, ports, and tourism. This study contributes to the existing literature by structurally analyzing the cruise industry through an integrated application of value chain analysis and input–output analysis. By empirically demonstrating the economic effects and structural limitations of the Korean cruise industry, the findings are expected to serve as a foundational reference for future academic research and policy formulation related to the cruise industry. Keyword : Cruise Industry, Economic Effects, Industrial Structure, Input– Output Analysis, Cruise Port