Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo

The Busan Metropolitan City Government announced a plan to promote the tourism industry of the nation’s second-largest city with the goal of making it a globally recognized tourist destination in 2016. The government will convene a monthly meeting on tourism policy coordination designed to reflect tourism conception from a planning stage, operate a tourism forum to establish a civilian, academic, industry and government network, and utilize strategic infrastructure to its fullest capacity to ensure the systematic development of the city’s tourism industry. 

A sailboat ride in the fascinating night view of the Marine City is one of Busan’s major tourist products.

Chinese Cruise Tourists on the Rise in Busan

Busan saw its inbound foreign tourist market begin to thaw last September, overcoming a setback it had experienced in the wake of the effects of the spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Korea and a low yen. Before that, Busan’s market had been buoyed by the launch of 36 new flights on five routes, including to and from Yantai, China and Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The Korean inbound market suffered a setback due to the spread of the MERS epidemic. Korea attracted 12.23 million foreign tourists in 2015, a 6.8 percent decline from 14.2 million foreign arrivals in 2014. Now Korea is promoting “a mood of revisiting Korea” by designating the period between 2016 and 2018 as the “Visit Korea Years” in a bid to advance the realizing of the goal of attracting 20 million foreign inbound tourists. The dynamics of the Korean inbound tourism market may be affected by such unfavorable factors as cheap tourist products targeting Chinese tourists and the sagging economies of Southeast Asia. It is hoped that the tax refund system, which goes into effect in January, have an affirmative impact on the industry. Busan also saw foreign arrivals decrease 8.2 percent to 2.09 million last year, but the city projects the fugureito soar 29.2 percent to 2.7 million this year.

In an effort to secure tourism infrastructure, the Busan Metropolitan City Government established a tourism development promotion team to cultivate the city’s tourism resources into products. It is also trying to provide support for the establishment of travel agencies specializing in inbound tourism. 

Busan is stepping on the gas to tap the Northeast Asian cruise market, which is showing signs of rapid growth. Busan is likely to see Chinese cruise arrivals surge to 700,000 in 2016, as many as three times 230,000 in 2015, thanks to such improved cruise entry conditions as the opening of Busan International Passenger Terminal last August and Chinese’s favor for cruise trips. 

The municipal government projects that 226 cruise ships will make port calls, bringing in a combined 700,000 passengers in 2016. Cruise ships with more than 100,000 tons in capacity will likely account for 135 of those occasions. Cruise ships will make home port calls at Busan four times during the period between January and June and “semi-home” port calls on 12 occasions during the period between July and September. 

The municipal government reinforced such marketing activities by participating in the Cruise Shipping Miami expo, one of the world’s largest cruise exhibitions, last May and the implementation of familiarization tours for cruise tours to Busan. The city government will participate in the Seatrade Cruise Global, slated for March in the Untied States, and host the Seatrade Cruise Asia 2016 in May. An estimated 2,000 people from 20 Asian countries, including officials from major shipping liners, will likely assembly for Seatrade Cruise Asia 2016. 

The Busan Metropolitan City Government has been allowed to designate marine tourism and IoT convergence urban infrastructure service as the city’s strategic industries to be nurtured in consideration of its regional features. 

One of the major international events designed to attract Chinese tourists is the Busan One-Asia Festival in the Busan area from Oct. 1 to 23. The festival, which will coincide with the 21st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), will features such Hallyu (Korean Wave) as K-Pop, Korean superstars’ special events, and “Beauty Korea” events. 

Busan aims at attracting 900,000 Chinese tourists this year, up from 550,000 arrivals in 2015. 

The Busan Metropolitan City Government plans to ramp up marketing activities in China and Taiwan to make the most of Hallyu. For instance, “Hi My Star,” a program related to Hallyu, filmed from Jan. 22 to 24, will be broadcast in China in April, while “Mr. Player,” to be located in Busan in April, will be aired in Taiwan in the second half of the year. 

The municipal government also plans to maintain collaboration with Ctrip, China’s largest-scale on-line travel agency, as part of efforts to strengthen local and online marketing activities in China. 

Busan plans to increase the number of Busan-based travel agencies specializing in inbound Chinese arrivals, which currently sits at four, to 209 across the nation. 

The city participates in the China and Korea Commerce Credit Authentication (CKA) Program to attract Chinese wanting to make medical tours to Busan in accordance with the effectuation of the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement. 

Fireworks brighten up the sky over Busan Gwangan Grand Bridge. 

The Busan Metropolitan City Government signed an MOU with Pankoo on Busan’s cuisine last October. Pankoo operates 46 restaurants offering Korean cuisine in such major Chinese cities as Shanghai. 

In consideration of a drop in the number of Japanese touring Busan due to the continuing diplomatic rows between Korea and Japan, a low yen and a lack of price competitiveness compared to Seoul, Busan plans to develop cuisine, beauty, and other experience tour products to attract FITs. The municipal government will jointly promote one-day shuttle tours to the Gyeongsang area in cooperation with Korea Trade Organization, travel agencies and other local governments. It plans to operate a program to attract transfer passengers at Kimhae International Airport. 

The Busan Metropolitan City Government plans to lay the groundwork to attract Muslim tourists as well. 

Busan plans to restore the waterways of the Naktong River to make them tourist assets, expand an ecological observation area along the river, and introduce eco-friendly tourist buses. 

As part of efforts to expand tourism infrastructure, the city government plans to overhaul the Daejongdae Observatory, construct a costal road leading to Daejongdae, one of Busan’s tourism jewels, and implement a project to transform Mt. Yongdu Park into a top tourist destination. 

Busan also plans to develop tourist products linking spas, medical treatment, beauty and festivals, and increase the number of restaurants specializing Chinese tourists’ cuisine from the current seven to 12. A project to set up an international meditation center at the Naewonjeong-sa Temple as part of efforts to develop such experience products as temple stays is among the 13 projects the city government will implement.

The Jukseong “Dream” Catholic Church once served as a location of SBS-TV’s drama.(Photos:Busan Metropolitan City Government)