Busan is good

Cultivating Distinctively High-Purity Busan Tourism Products Through the “K-Content Tourism Marketing Academy”

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Busan Metropolitan City Mayor Park Heong-joon and Busan Tourism Organization President Lee Jeong-sil announced that the Busan Tourism Enterprise Support Center (Director Kim Mun-jun; hereinafter, the Center) has successfully completed the basic course of the “K-Content Tourism Marketing Academy,” launched to transform the fundamentals of the local tourism industry and take the lead in the global tourism market, and will recruit trainees for the advanced course through February 25.

The “K-Content Tourism Marketing Academy” is a growth-oriented development program designed to help pre-startup participants turn their ideas into final products.

Unlike other projects that end as one-off support, it features step-by-step training—basic, advanced, and acceleration—through a structured curriculum that promotes continuity and aims to deliver tangible outcomes.

In the basic course operated in January, the program targeted unemployed youth and university (graduate) students. Through training, advisory (consulting), field experiences, and a two-day, one-night idea-thon marathon (hackathon), it identified a total of 11 pre-startup teams and confirmed their potential to grow as local creators who generate local value.

This advanced course is a practice-oriented program designed to help trainees translate their creative, Busan-style tourism content concepts into actual startups and product development.

Participants will strengthen their tourism-content capabilities centered on six key fields—marine, gastronomy, healing/wellness, beauty, e-sports, and K-culture. In addition, they will systematically address practical challenges in the business-development phase through expert assessments tailored to demand across areas such as promotion and marketing, brand design, festival linkage, and business operations, along with one-on-one mentoring and intensive consulting.

They will also join an investment-attraction pitch-deck capability-building program to enhance the clarity and appeal of their content, and take part in a hands-on process in which outstanding content is selected through a final presentation event (Demo Day).

Going forward, Busan Metropolitan City and the Center plan to connect items discovered in the advanced course to the acceleration course, continuously monitor market responses to the business models, and enhance the completeness of the products.

They also plan to provide opportunities for private investment attraction and linkage with public projects for the final selected outstanding content, thereby establishing a foundation for self-sustaining growth.

This academy is the culmination of operational know-how accumulated as the Center has been selected as an excellent center for six consecutive years.

One trainee who participated in the basic course said, “It was not a one-way, theory-focused program, but a hands-on program that helped us concretize our ideas, so I was highly satisfied.” The trainee added, “The ‘Idea Walk in Busan’ course, where we could visit tourism companies on site and hear evaluations and feedback from practitioners, was especially impressive, and I definitely want to participate in the acceleration course that continues through prototype production.”

Companies wishing to participate in the advanced course can apply through the Busan Tourism Enterprise Support Center website (tourbiz.bto.or.kr). For more information, inquiries can be made to the program office (Tel. 1577-7020).

Any Busan-based company that wishes to strengthen capabilities related to content in one of the six fields may apply, and both company representatives and working-level staff may participate in the program.

Through the advanced course, Busan Metropolitan City and the Center plan to strengthen the business commercialization potential of the content by providing follow-up support for outstanding graduates of the basic course while also encouraging new participation by companies with relevant experience.

Na Yun-bin, Assistant Mayor for Tourism and MICE, stated, “A single high-quality piece of content can change the image of an entire city. This academy will serve as a crucial first step for the growth of K-content that will shape Busan’s tourism image.” Na added, “Through Busan Metropolitan City’s focused support, we will develop the high-purity ideas of companies and pre-startups into tourism products that represent Busan.”