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영어

While the cruise industry has been identified as an ever increasingly important aspect of the wider tourism industry, this sector remains relatively under researched. A cruise can be defined as a journey on a large ship for pleasure, during passengers visit several places. A cruise ship is like a large floating holiday resort. On board passengers enjoy the luxury and comfort of a hotel and are able to choose all different activities. Most cruise ships are equipped with several restaurants, bars, casinos, swimming pools, Jacuzzi, spa, gym, shops, theater, cinema, etc. One clear preference in Asia is for shorter cruises of five days or less. This makes cruises offer distinct programs only for Asians, different from cruises in North Americans and Europeans who prefer 12 to 14 days or longer cruises. The global cruise industry could be divided into three different geographic segments: the North American cruise industry, the European cruise industry and the Asia-Pacific cruise industry. Although the European cruise industry is smaller, in terms of operating cruise lines, than the North American industry, the number of cruise passengers has been growing faster. According to the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA), average annual growth rate of cruise industry is over 8%. Furthermore, the number of cruise passengers was 15 million in 2008, which was ten times more than that in 1980s. Asian cruise market had predicted approximately 7 million passengers a year by 2020. There are two main purposes of this study; to summarize the concept of cruise and cruise industry, to identify and research current state of the cruise industry in Northeast Asia, especially focused on three countries: China, South Korea and Japan.