Haeundae

News

AI-translated Press Releases

Busan Metropolitan City and Uber Taxi Sign MOU to Enhance Transportation Convenience for Foreign Tourists during “Festival Siwol”

2025. 8. 12 217  Views
◈ On August 11, Busan Metropolitan City and Uber Taxi agreed to jointly promote “Festival Siwol” (September 21–October 3) and cooperate to provide convenient and safe transportation services for foreign tourists during the festival period.

◈ Joint initiatives include promoting “Festival Siwol” to foreign visitors through the Uber app, offering Uber Taxi coupons to festival ticket purchasers, and improving transportation convenience for foreign visitors to Busan.

◈ Foreign visitors can use the Uber app as they do in their home countries to request taxi services, and the in-app message translation function enables smooth communication between local drivers and foreign passengers without language barriers.
내용

Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that, on August 11, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the global taxi-hailing platform Uber Taxi to improve transportation convenience for foreign tourists visiting Busan during the “Festival Siwol” period.


This agreement was initiated to address limitations in the domestic taxi-hailing service, which relies on mobile carrier identity verification and domestic card or bank account-based payment methods, making it difficult for foreign tourists to use. The purpose is to utilize the global mobility app “Uber” to enable foreign tourists visiting Busan during “Festival Siwol” to conveniently use taxi-hailing services.


The signing ceremony took place on August 11 at City Hall, attended by the Director General of the Tourism & MICE Bureau and Song Jin-woo, General Manager of Uber Taxi Korea.


Under the agreement, Busan Metropolitan City and Uber Taxi will work together to promote “Festival Siwol,” a convergence festival held across Busan, including Haeundae and North Port, from September 21 to October 3, and to provide convenient and safe transportation services for foreign tourists during the festival.


The two parties will jointly cooperate to:
▲ Promote “Festival Siwol” to foreigners visiting Korea via the Uber app;
▲ Provide Uber Taxi coupons to those who purchase festival admission tickets*; and
▲ Improve transportation convenience for foreign visitors to Busan.

  • Plan to provide 3,000 Uber Taxi coupons worth KRW 5,000 each to “Festival Siwol” ticket purchasers.

Uber Taxi is a global platform that allows users to access taxi-hailing services abroad without installing a separate app for each country, using the same Uber app they use at home. The app includes an in-app message translation feature, enabling both local drivers and foreign passengers to communicate smoothly without language barriers. This is expected to further enhance the convenience of taxi use for foreign tourists visiting Busan during “Festival Siwol.”


Song Jin-woo, General Manager of Uber Taxi Korea, stated, “This collaboration is especially meaningful as it marks our third partnership with Busan Metropolitan City. Based on the trust and cooperation experience we have built over the years, we expect to generate even greater synergy this year for the development of the tourism industry and revitalization of the local economy. With high brand recognition and trust among foreign tourists, Uber Taxi plans to enhance the mobility convenience of visitors during ‘Festival Siwol’ and contribute to Busan’s leap forward as a ‘global hub city.’”


Kim Hyun-jae, Director General of the Tourism & MICE Bureau, said, “Tourism and transportation are inseparable, and convenient, appropriate transportation is a key factor in determining tourist satisfaction. As we are on the verge of surpassing 3 million foreign tourists for the first time in history, we will do our utmost to establish a system to accommodate foreign tourists for the successful hosting of our city’s flagship global tourism branding event, ‘Festival Siwol.’”

This content has been translated by AI. Please refer to the attached original Korean version for accuracy if needed.