Busan is changing the way it develops tourism by starting with a simple question: what do visitors actually experience when they arrive? In August 2026 the city carried out its first one-to-one interviews with foreign tourists at major attractions, using direct feedback to identify practical improvements across navigation, cleanliness, mobile services and visitor convenience. The move comes as international tourism to Busan continues to grow and the city works to strengthen its position as a major coastal destination in South Korea.
Busan Puts Tourist Experience at the Centre
The three-day interviews from August 22 to 24 involved 34 foreign travellers at Haeundae Beach, Gamcheon Culture Village and Yongdusan Park. These conversations captured details that large-scale statistics can miss, including navigation, transport, digital access and movement between attractions.
Haeundae offers a broad beachfront and a concentration of hotels, restaurants and entertainment, while Gamcheon Culture Village provides hillside streets, art installations and views across the city. Yongdusan Park places visitors close to central Busan attractions and the commercial areas around Nampo-dong. These locations represent different parts of the visitor journey for today’s international visitors.
The interviews found that visitors valued Busan’s coastline, local food and interactions with residents. They also identified different practical issues depending on their nationality and travel habits.
Navigation and Digital Access Matter
Some visitors from the United States and Europe said Google Maps provided limited tourism information for navigating Busan and that regional transport passes were not widely understood. For international travellers planning independent trips, clear directions and easy-to-understand transport information can be especially important when moving between beaches, markets, cultural districts and hillside attractions.
Chinese visitors highlighted another challenge involving digital services. Local delivery and ride-hailing applications can require a domestic phone number or identity verification, creating barriers for tourists who depend on mobile platforms while travelling. Expanding payment gateways and improving access to mobile applications are therefore among the areas Busan plans to address.
Japanese visitors raised concerns about sanitation, including sewer odours in some downtown entertainment areas and cleanliness in public restrooms. The city is also preparing to increase the availability of rubbish bins following feedback from foreign visitors.
A Wider Tourism Survey Is Underway
The direct interviews are part of a broader 2026 Busan Visitor Survey running from August through November. The city is surveying domestic and international tourists at major entry points including Gimhae International Airport and Busan Station as well as major attractions such as Haeundae Beach and Gamcheon Culture Village.
The expanded survey is targeting 1,800 domestic tourists and 1,800 international tourists. It examines travel behaviour, spending patterns and satisfaction, while tourism big data will be used alongside the survey results to support future policy planning.
Instead of looking only at visitor numbers, Busan is collecting information about where tourists go, how they travel, what they spend on and which parts of their journey create difficulties.
Busan Builds a Longer Stay Tourism Model
The visitor feedback also fits into a wider tourism strategy. In April 2026, Busan announced its 2030 Busan Tourism Promotion Plan, which aims to move beyond a focus on visitor volume and develop a higher-value tourism structure that encourages longer stays and greater visitor spending. The city plans to invest 122.1 billion won over five years across five strategies and 15 initiatives.
Busan is also preparing its Eighth Busan Regional Tourism Development Plan for 2027 to 2031. The planning process includes marine, mountain, cultural and ecological tourism resources and considers changing global travel patterns, including K-culture and new technology.
For visitors, that direction means Busan is looking beyond its best-known beaches. A trip can combine Haeundae and Songjeong with Gwangalli, Jagalchi Market, Nampo-dong, Gamcheon Culture Village and the city’s wider food and cultural districts. Coastal scenery remains central, but the city is connecting it with neighbourhood experiences and practical travel services.
More International Visitors Are Arriving
Busan recorded 2,420,629 foreign visitors during the first six months of 2026, an increase of 43.9% from the same period in 2025. Foreign card spending reached 591.4 billion won during the period, up 63% year on year.
The city has set a target of four million foreign visitors for 2026, making the quality of the visitor experience increasingly important as international demand expands.
Busan’s beaches are also a major part of the tourism picture. Beach attendance reached 21.979 million in 2025, up 11.4% from the previous year. For the 2026 season, Haeundae and Songjeong opened on June 26, followed by Songdo, Gwangalli, Dadaepo, Ilgwang and Imnang on July 1.
By listening directly to travellers while tracking broader tourism behaviour, Busan is building a more detailed picture of what international visitors need. For South Korea travellers, the result could be a coastal city that is easier to navigate and increasingly connected across beaches, food, culture and local experiences.
