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Busan Metropolitan City Hosts the 4th International Tourism City Forum – Exploring Strategies to Become a Global Tourism Hub

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it will hold the 4th International Tourism City Forum today (20th) at 2:00 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom (1st floor) of The Westin Josun Busan.
○ Now in its 4th year, the International Tourism City Forum is hosted by the City and organized by the Busan Tourism Association. Since being designated in 2020 as part of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s public project to foster international tourism cities, the forum has been held annually since 2022.
○ This year, the event is jointly organized by the Busan Tourism Future Network—an industry-academia-research cooperation body—and the Busan Tourism Association, which serves as the field-based private sector hub, with the aim of presenting a new vision for Busan tourism.

This forum brings together about 150 participants, including domestic and international tourism experts and local tourism industry representatives, to explore strategies for Busan’s advancement into a global tourism city. It will include an opening ceremony, keynote speech, session presentations in two categories, and a panel discussion.
○ The keynote speech will be delivered under the theme “Regional Cooperation and International Intercity Connectivity.”
○ The session presentations will follow:
[Session 1. International Tourism City] ▲ Changes in Busan as an International Tourism City and Its Future Role ▲ Pioneering New Markets for Busan as an International Tourism City ▲ Cooperative Marketing Strategies among Domestic and International Neighboring Cities
○ [Session 2. Case Studies of Tourism Development in Overseas Cities] A presentation on Thailand’s tourism industry and economic development (tourism policies and vision) will be delivered.
○ After the session presentations, public-, private- and academic-sector experts in the tourism field will join as panelists to engage in in-depth discussions on the respective themes. In particular, the participation of global companies such as the online travel agency Trip.com and a wide range of tourism experts is expected to foster a multifaceted understanding of the tourism industry and produce practical solutions.

Amid the recent surge in foreign tourists to Busan, with annual visitors projected to exceed 3 million for the first time, the hosting of this International Tourism City Forum under the theme “Regional Cooperation and International Intercity Connectivity” carries significant meaning.
○ As of June this year, the number of foreign tourists visiting Busan was 1,682,415—approximately 22 percent higher than the cumulative number of foreign tourists as of June last year (1,381,444), which was considered to have fully returned to pre-COVID-19 levels. In April, Busan recorded an unprecedented achievement by surpassing one million foreign visitors in the shortest time ever.
○ [Strategic Response to Increasing Tourism Flows] As tourism trends shift and international cooperation becomes more important following the COVID-19 pandemic, this forum is expected to serve as an opportunity to explore strategies for sustainable growth and identify new sustainable growth drivers.
○ [Establishment of Intercity Tourism Networks] Furthermore, by strengthening cooperation with major domestic and international cities centered on Busan, and forming broader tourism belts, the forum is expected to bolster Busan’s competitiveness in becoming a global tourism hub.

Lee Jun-seung, Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs of Busan Metropolitan City, stated, “Through this forum, we aim to share experiences and knowledge with domestic and international tourism experts and explore a variety of policies to promote Busan as a global hub tourism city,” adding, “Going forward, we will continue to strengthen networks with not only domestic but also global tourism-related institutions to further develop the region’s tourism industry.”