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Bakerys and Cafés Join the Collaboration! Busan Gourmet Collaboration Season 2 Begins: Applications Open for the Second Half of the 2026 Busan Gourmet Selection

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Busan Metropolitan City, led by Mayor Chun Jae-soo, and the Busan Tourism Organization, headed by President Lee Jeong-sil, announced that applications for the second half of the 2026 Busan Gourmet Selection will be accepted over a two-week period through August 14 to further promote Busan's culinary tourism.

The program follows the successful first-half initiative and aims to discover new culinary content through collaboration among local restaurants while developing immersive gastronomic tourism experiences that visitors can enjoy firsthand.

In particular, the initiative is designed to help revitalize neighborhood commercial districts by identifying and connecting local restaurants located throughout Busan's smaller commercial areas rather than focusing solely on major shopping districts.

The Busan Gourmet Selection is a collaborative culinary promotion in which restaurants across Busan either develop new menu items together or combine their signature dishes into a single course menu during the event period. Visitors and residents alike will have the opportunity to experience Busan's unique culinary culture through exclusive menus available only during the promotion.

The first-half promotion, held in June, featured 13 participating teams and successfully attracted a total of 2,425 visitors.

The second-half promotion will run throughout October and will be linked with the Festival Siwol, providing visitors to Busan with new culinary experiences.

Beginning with this second-half recruitment, eligibility has been expanded beyond general restaurants to include cafés, dessert cafés, and bakery businesses registered as refreshment establishments or bakery businesses. As a result, collaborations that previously centered on local restaurants are expected to broaden into the café and dessert sectors, creating a wider variety of culinary content.

Applications are being accepted from August 3 through August 14. To ensure participating teams have sufficient time to develop their menus, the recruitment period has been substantially shortened compared with the first-half program.

Approximately 13 teams will be selected, with each team consisting of at least two participating businesses. Teams that participated in the first half may not reapply with the same team composition; however, they may apply again if the team members are changed, encouraging the formation of new collaborative partnerships.

Each selected team will receive approximately KRW 3 million in promotional operating support, along with publicity and marketing assistance.

Applications should be submitted by email to the Tourism Content Team of the Busan Tourism Organization at jahur@bto.or.kr. Detailed information and application guidelines are available on the Busan Tourism Organization website at www.bto.or.kr under the Notices and Events section.

Beginning with this second-half program, both promotional activities and operational methods will be further enhanced.

Selected applicants will be notified individually on August 20. Starting with teaser content introducing all participating teams on September 16, menus will be unveiled in two stages according to the promotion schedule, with releases planned for September 21 and October 5.

Through this phased promotional strategy, Busan Metropolitan City plans to maximize promotional opportunities for participating teams while continuously presenting diverse culinary content to visitors throughout October.

Na Yoon-bin, Director General of the Tourism MICE Bureau, said, “The first-half Busan Gourmet Selection not only provided an opportunity for local restaurants to share expertise and achieve mutual growth through collaboration, but also successfully attracted visitors to Busan. In the second half, we will expand participation to cafés and bakeries while strengthening phased promotional activities to cultivate Busan's culinary tourism content into a more diverse and competitive attraction.”