Why Did Hakata Port Become to Be the Busiest Cruise Port in Japan?

Abstract

Hakata port has been the busiest cruise port since 2015 in Japan. In this paper, we considered the reason of this fact based on previous studies related to the rapid growth of Asian cruise market and the strategies of cruise lines or cruise ports to give indications to Japanese cruse port policy. We revealed that the geographical proximity to Shanghai port, developments of port-related infrastructure and so on let Hakata port show superiority as a first port and previous studies gave us many suggestions to consider the future situation of Japan’s cruise tourism.