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Starting this weekend, the number of people on board the passenger ferry from Busan to Tsushima, Japan will be doubled to 200 per ship.
Panstarline.com announced on the 16th that it had received a notice from the Tsushima city authorities in Japan that it had decided to increase the number of passengers arriving on the Busan-Tsushima route to 200 per boat from the 18th — up from the current 100.
On the Busan-Tsushima route, which was suspended due to COVID-19, on the 25th of last month, Pan Star Group’s high-speed passenger ship ‘Pan Star Tsushima Link’ and Star Line’s ‘Nina’ started trial operation.
At the time of the route resumption, the Tsushima authorities took into consideration the conditions of local medical facilities and allowed each passenger ship to operate one round trip per day only on weekends and limited the number of people on board to a maximum of 100 per ship.
The Busan – Tsushima route resumed after 3 years and is gaining popularity, with tickets for a month sold out early.
According to the shipping company, there are not enough seats due to the limited number of passengers, so group travelers had to cancel or postpone their schedules.
The Pan Star Tsushima Link and Nina have a capacity of 425 and 440 passengers, respectively.
Though weekday flights are not yet permitted, each shipping company will operate one round-trip flight a day only on Saturdays and Sundays. On Monday, only one one-way flight will be operated to transport passengers returning home after visiting Tsushima. At this time, Busan departs without picking up passengers.
Relevant authorities from both countries plan to increase the number of passengers in consideration of the CIQ (customs, immigration, quarantine) situation in Tsushima and the hospital bed occupancy rate.
