Korea Maritime and Fisheries Development Institute discusses ways to cooperate in marine tourism between Korea and China

The Korea Maritime and Fisheries Development Institute announced on the 13th that it held the '2026 Korea-China Maritime Cooperation Forum' jointly with China's Shandong Academy of Social Sciences (SDASS) on the 12th.

The forum was designed to share the two countries' marine tourism policies and market trends and discover practical cooperation tasks under the theme of 'Korea-China cooperation tasks and future cooperation directions in the marine tourism field.'

The forum held in Jeju was attended by about 20 experts from related organizations in both countries, including the Korea Maritime and Fisheries Development Institute, Shandong Academy of Social Sciences, Jeju Research Institute, Jeju Tourism Organization, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, and Daekyung University, and was conducted with topic presentations and discussions in three fields: marine cultural tourism, marine ecological tourism, and cruise tourism.

In the field of maritime culture and tourism, plans to develop tourism content utilizing the maritime history and cultural resources shared between the two countries were discussed.

Content development using common cultural resources such as Jangbogo relics and maritime folk tales and a maritime culture experience program linked to maritime transportation were proposed, while the creation of a Maritime Silk Road cultural tourism belt, development of cultural theme routes, and youth exchange were also presented as major cooperation tasks.

In the field of marine ecological tourism, the two countries shared their policies and operational experiences and discussed ways to cooperate in environmental education, such as joint monitoring of ecological resources in the Yellow Sea and ecological education on migratory birds and tidal flats.

In addition, the need for joint research in the field of tourism capacity and safety management was also raised.

In the cruise tourism field, plans to link ports and routes between the two countries to build a cruise belt in Northeast Asia were discussed.

Standardization of tourism data, development of cultural theme cruise content, and joint marketing were presented as major directions for cooperation.

Participants agreed that the two countries should work together to preserve the marine environment and revitalize tourism, and expressed the opinion that cooperation needs to be concreted through regional pilot projects linking Shandong Province and Jeju.

In addition, opinions were raised that a sustainable policy and research cooperation system should be established through sharing tourism statistics and policy information, joint research, and regular exchange of experts.