"Jealous of the Airport"... Why Has Busan Port International Passenger Terminal Become a Graveyard for Tenant Businesses?

Since the COVID-19 crisis, the sea route between Busan and Japan has fully reopened, leading to a recovery in travel demand; however, the businesses operating within the Busan Port International Passenger Terminal are still being pushed to the brink.

Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic lasting over two years, many businesses have closed down, and even those remaining hardly have any time to see customers. It is known that stakeholders involved in terminal operations do not allow such 'shopping time.'

According to Busan Duty Free Shop and others, the Immigration Office for Foreigners begins the departure procedures only when the departure time is imminent, even though travelers are lined up waiting to enter the departure hall.

As a result, the departure procedures are rushed, and travelers who complete the process have only about 20 minutes to stay inside the departure hall, leaving insufficient time to use convenience facilities such as duty-free shops or cafes.

Travelers lined up at the departure hall of Busan Port International Passenger Terminal.

At one time, 18 businesses including restaurants, cafes, and convenience stores operated within the Busan Port International Passenger Terminal. However, as the Korea-Japan conflict intensified in 2017, Japanese travelers stopped coming, and with the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, 11 businesses effectively closed. This has led to complaints that businesses targeting the international travel boom in the port city of Busan have jumped into a 'grave.'

The remaining businesses also face conditions that make it difficult to benefit from the recovering overseas travel boom. Busan Duty Free Shop, the largest business operating in the Busan Port International Passenger Terminal, recently issued an 'appeal' strongly urging related agencies to reform convenience-oriented administration such as departure procedures.

The main point was to improve the time structure so that travelers who have completed departure procedures are not rushed by boarding times and can actually use the duty-free shops in the departure hall.

Behind this convenience administration that causes poor sales, various procedures and interests from departure procedures to boarding are intricately involved. Workers participating in the CIQ process, including customs, immigration control, and quarantine, must arrive early or work night shifts, and security issues arise accordingly, so each party is reluctant to allow travelers to stay for extended periods.

Some shipping companies, in turn, hasten boarding guidance to increase onboard shop sales, thus inadvertently joining in the 'business obstruction' of the tenant businesses.

For these reasons and others, a duty-free shop in the departure hall went bankrupt once in 2017, and Busan Duty Free Shop, which took over its operation, is also reportedly facing a serious management crisis. The only cafe in the departure hall closed and has yet to find a successor operator.

A representative from Busan Duty Free Shop said, "Travelers spend too little time in the departure hall, so businesses operating convenience facilities inside the departure hall lose opportunities to operate and struggle to meet rent," adding, "We appeal to operate like an international airport where departure procedures start 3 hours before departure and boarding is guided 15 minutes before departure."

The terminal operator, Busan Port Authority (BPA), changed the departure inspection time to 1 hour and 30 minutes before departure on September 30, 2019, to extend the stay time in the departure hall, but this is not being properly observed.

A BPA official said, "Since tenants are customers who provide rental income, their success is important," and added, "We plan to quickly gather shipping companies, CIQ, security companies, and other stakeholders to discuss innovatively and find ways to resolve the difficulties faced by tenant businesses."

Another official said, "The departure hall is narrow and lacks convenience facilities, which also delays passenger entry," and added, "We plan to explore various measures to extend passenger retention time and enhance the international passenger terminal's stature."

Busan Duty Free Shop hopes that departure procedures will be advanced to guarantee at least 90 minutes of stay time inside the departure hall, similar to Gimhae Airport, and appeals for convenience facilities such as rest areas, nursing rooms, food and beverage outlets, and convenience stores to be equipped at international airport standards to elevate the status of the international passenger terminal.

Busan Duty Free Shop was established in 2017 with investments from 16 mid-sized companies including Viensteela, Winsteela, and Gwangmyeong Ink Manufacturing. Since then, the 'No Japan' movement and the COVID-19 crisis have overlapped, resulting in less than two years of normal operation out of the five-year contract period.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.