From January to May this year, the number of tourists who visited Busan neared 2 million, up 40% from the same period a year earlier. Considering tourists who came to watch the BTS concert in June, observers say Busan is likely to meet the city's annual target for foreign tourists (4 million) without difficulty.
According to the city of Busan on the 6th, 460,000 tourists visited Busan in May alone, up 42.9% from a year earlier.
The cumulative number of foreign tourists who visited Busan from January to May this year was 1,936,572. By country, the order was Taiwan (375,322), China (359,981), Japan (233,685), and the United States (170,587).
Looking at May alone, growth among U.S. tourists was pronounced. The number of American tourists who visited Busan in May was 41,324, up 80.1% from a year earlier. French tourists (5,654) also increased 89.2% from a year earlier.
A Busan city official said, "To diversify foreign tourists, we have focused on major overseas media such as CNN since March, and since April we have joined hands with global online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Agoda and Trip.com to roll out large-scale lodging-and-festival linked campaigns. We assess that these policies were effective."
In the second half, Busan plans to improve convenience for individual travelers through collaboration with global online travel agencies (OTAs) and by revitalizing the "Visit Busan Pass." The city will work to introduce maritime tourism transport services in earnest (amphibious tour buses and maritime tourism taxis) and boost port-of-call tourism to increase satisfaction among cruise tourists and strengthen competitiveness in marine tourism.
Na Yun-bin, Director General of Busan's Tourism MICE Bureau, said, "We will focus on rolling out stay-type tourism products linked to mega events such as the representative 'Busan Fireworks Festival,' the nighttime tourism brand 'Byulbada Busan Night Festa,' and a large-scale culinary event to be held in October," adding, "In the second half, we will continue to drive both quantitative and qualitative growth while promoting local spending by foreign tourists."