Solutions to ESG Issues and Sustainable Growth Strategies for the Korean Cruise Industry in the AI Era

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a theoretical integration of Freeman, Suchman, Carroll, and Elkington applied to AI-ESG in a niche industry; useful for cruise-related academic research.

🏢実務担当者:Offers concrete AI applications (weather routing, predictive maintenance, disclosure automation) for cruise operators facing ESG compliance and cost pressures.

🏛政策担当者:Presents a policy roadmap for smart port ecosystems and digital twin ships that could inform national strategies for sustainable maritime tourism.

This study aims to identify how artificial intelligence (AI) (including machine learning (ML)) technologies can mitigate the structural dilemma faced by the Korean cruise industry, which is seeking a rebound following the THAAD incident (2017) and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022): namely, high initial investment costs and declining financial performance resulting from strengthened ESG regulations. To this end, following the PRISMA principles of Moher et al. (2009), 85 articles were selected for a systematic review out of 382 articles searched from Scopus, Web of Science, KISS, and RISS, and the analysis was conducted focusing on two axes: the three domains of ESG and AI ethical risks. The analysis results showed that in the Environment (E) sector, ML-based weather routing and predictive maintenance contribute to fuel cost reduction and the maintenance of the Carbon Intensity Index (CII) rating; in the Social (S) sector, crew MLC 2006 compliant scheduling, diversification of port overtourism, and DEI monitoring support the fulfillment of social responsibility; and in the Governance (G) sector, an ESG dedicated committee, GRI/SASB/TCFD-based disclosure automation, and Bionic Revenue Management (BRM) contribute to the formation of a virtuous cycle between financial performance and ESG performance. At the same time, five ethical risks—greenwashing, privacy infringement, algorithmic bias, labor substitution, and ESG-washing—were also identified. This study systematized the theoretical mechanism by which AI mitigates ESG dilemmas by integrating theories from Freeman (1984), Suchman (1995), Carroll (1991), and Elkington (1997); and practically, presented a step-by-step policy roadmap leading to a smart port ecosystem, digital twin ships, a Northeast Asia cooperation network, and the cultivation of specialized talent. Therefore, this study presents sustainable growth strategies for the Korean cruise industry and, at the same time, provides methodological criteria for a ‘Smart Green Cruise’ model applicable to emerging cruise nations.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.54794/enesg.2026.6.4.561first seen 2026-07-18 08:01:13