Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City to Support Growth of Busan Tourism Businesses, Aiming to Attract 5 Million International Visitors

내용

Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) and the Busan Tourism Organization (President Lee Jeong-sil) announced that the Busan Tourism Business Support Center (Director Kim Mun-jun, hereinafter the “Center”) received an “Excellent” rating in the Korea Tourism Organization’s “2025 Performance Evaluation of Regional Tourism Business Support Centers” for the sixth consecutive year (2020–2025), securing KRW 1 billion in national funding for 2026.

• ●The Center opened in Yeongdo-gu in 2019 as the nation’s first such center through a public offering by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. By operating a range of programs to discover and foster tourism startups and star companies, it has positioned itself as a leading model for tourism business support nationwide.

This “Excellent” rating is attributed to the City and the Center’s efforts to attract promising global and domestic online travel agencies (OTAs), such as “kkday” and “Frip,” to establish a permanent base (office) in Busan, and to successfully embed local content initiatives such as “Port Village” and “Christmas Village.”

• ●Through collaborative projects with OTAs, the City and the Center worked to improve the distribution structure dominated by the Seoul metropolitan area and supported the development of Busan-specialized products. As a result, they forged strategic partnerships between OTAs and Lotte Department Store, Heosimcheong, NOLFIT, Mr. Menshion, and others, establishing a win-win model of shared growth among “OTA–local government–business.”

The star companies identified by the Center also helped drive qualitative growth in Busan tourism.

• ●“Food Travel” elevated its village events (Port Village and Christmas Village) into signature tourism content in Busan.

• ●“Taeseongdang” and “Lee Heung-yong Bakery” have become representative culinary courses in Busan.

• ●“P.ARK” successfully hosted the friendship dinner for the Busan International Port Conference (BIPC) as a Korea Tourism Organization-designated unique venue (Korea Unique Venues).

• ●“Zeroweb” has distinguished itself in the senior medical tour sector.

The approximately 300 startups and star companies discovered and supported by the City and the Center since 2019 delivered the following results in 2025: ▲ approximately KRW 110 billion in sales ▲ approximately KRW 7 billion in investment attracted ▲ 119 external awards ▲ 62 patents and new product launches.

In particular, the City and the Center strengthened diagnostics and monitoring for the startups selected in 2025.

• ●Through more than 240 tailored consulting engagements, they supported investment matching and rebranding. They also focused on expanding sales channels in the Seoul metropolitan area by operating “Busan Super” in Insadong, Seoul, a retail space selling products from star companies and startups in response to corporate demand.

Representative success stories include: ▲ “Livex,” a beauty-tech company that attracted KRW 4 billion in investment ▲ “H Hour,” which launched an influencer experience program targeting the Chinese-speaking market in partnership with “Gukjejang Inn,” a regenerated old inn ▲ “Nanugi World,” an educational tourism company that expanded its activities to the Americas.

In addition, “Dwaeguk Ramen” by “Tasty Kitchen,” selected as a startup in 2023, is preparing to enter major-company distribution channels.

Based on these achievements, Busan Metropolitan City plans in 2026 to further solidify a demand-driven corporate support system and leap forward as a global tourism city welcoming 5 million international visitors annually.

• ●The City will strengthen practical commercialization support for new startups while promoting open-call projects for partner companies to continually identify and expand best practices.

• ●In particular, through inter-company collaboration and demonstration (proof-of-concept) projects that combine the experience and innovativeness of star companies, the City will produce Busan-specific stay-type content and enhance nationwide brand competitiveness.

Na Yun-bin, Director General of the Tourism and MICE Bureau, stated, “The growth of Busan’s tourism businesses is the key driving force behind attracting 5 million international visitors,” adding, “We will do our utmost to ensure that our policies provide long-term, practical support tailored to each company’s stage of growth and business characteristics.”