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Busan Tourism Transformation: From Quantitative to Qualitative Growth! “Stay Longer, Happier Busan” Livelihood Roundtable to Be Held

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Busan Metropolitan City, led by Mayor Chun Jae-soo, announced that it will hold the “Stay Longer, Happier Busan” Livelihood Roundtable at 14:00 today, September 7, at the Busan Eurasia Platform at Busan Station, together with tourism industry workers and local residents. The meeting is intended to transform Busan’s tourism model toward longer stays and to innovate the city’s tourism reception system at major gateways.

As of July, Busan recorded 2.92 million foreign visitors, up 46.1 percent year on year, and tourism spending of KRW 742.3 billion, up 50.8 percent. Against the backdrop of this unprecedented quantitative growth, the roundtable has been organized to pursue qualitative growth by moving beyond simply increasing visitor numbers and fostering a stay-oriented tourism model in which visitors remain in Busan longer and spend more.

Thirteen participants are expected to attend, including Mayor Chun Jae-soo, frontline tourism workers from the gastronomy, accommodation, medical tourism, wellness, MICE, and cruise sectors, as well as residents of Gamcheon Culture Village.

Before the roundtable, Mayor Chun Jae-soo plans to visit the Busan Station Tourist Information Center, located at Busan’s primary gateway, followed by the luggage delivery service platform Zim Carry. He will encourage frontline staff and personally inspect the city’s tourism reception readiness at the gateway.

Using this on-site inspection as an opportunity, Busan Metropolitan City will comprehensively reorganize the Busan Eurasia Platform at Busan Station, transforming it from a simple transportation hub into the starting point for welcoming international visitors to Busan.

In particular, in response to the growing number of foreign visitors and the diversification of their countries of origin, the city will shift away from the existing fixed, counter-centered approach, in which visitors wait for assistance, toward a more proactive, on-site information system. Digital kiosks will be installed in the Busan Station waiting area, while foreign students and residents living in Busan will be trained and deployed as professional supporters to provide mobile multilingual guidance along major passenger routes. Complaints and inconveniences identified on site will be collected and used as policy data to improve tourism reception readiness at the city’s gateways.

The Busan Eurasia Platform will also be developed into an integrated tourism center offering customized travel support services, sales of the Visit Busan Pass and K-culture merchandise, and unattended luggage storage. This will eliminate gaps in tourist information services while maximizing convenience and satisfaction for foreign visitors.

At the roundtable chaired by Mayor Chun Jae-soo, the Director-General of the Tourism and MICE Bureau will present four major strategies and key initiatives under the vision of “Busan, a Tourism City Where Experiences Drive Economic Vitality.” The four strategies are promoting balanced, stay-oriented tourism in eastern and western Busan; fostering high-value-added tourism industries; developing diverse content and a globally competitive tourism reception system; and building a sustainable ecosystem of mutual benefit.

The discussion will focus in particular on a fundamental shift in the tourism policy paradigm, moving away from quantitative indicators centered simply on visitor numbers toward qualitative indicators that create a virtuous cycle of longer stays, higher spending, greater satisfaction, and repeat visits. To this end, the city will review on-site regulations affecting the accommodation and gastronomy sectors while exploring ways to expand infrastructure that encourages longer stays.

The city also plans to extend the tourism axis, currently concentrated in eastern Busan, into western Busan and strengthen organic links with high-value-added industries such as medical tourism, wellness, and MICE, with the aim of encouraging visitors to stay longer.

In addition, to realize the ultimate goal of tourism development—tourism that makes citizens happy—the roundtable will broadly discuss measures to address inconveniences affecting residents’ living environment and to establish a sustainable model of mutual benefit in which the benefits of tourism contribute to revitalizing local commercial districts and improving citizens’ quality of life.

Mayor Chun Jae-soo said, “With Busan tourism now experiencing unprecedented growth, this is the ideal time to transform its structure from simple visits toward qualitative, stay-oriented growth that encourages visitors to remain in the city longer and enjoy more of what Busan has to offer.”

He added, “We will promptly reflect the difficulties and regulatory issues raised today in municipal policy and make improvements without delay. We will work to complete a mutually beneficial model in which the benefits of tourism lead to the revitalization of local commercial districts and improvements in citizens’ quality of life.”