Busan City Hosts the 1st International Tourism City Forum... To Foster Discourse on Value and Development Directions

July 13, 5 PM, Forum Opening Ceremony at Haeundae Nurimaru APEC House

Declaration of Support for 2030 Busan World Expo and Opening Performance of International Tourism City Forum

The 1st International Tourism City Forum will be held at Haeundae Nurimaru APEC House and BEXCO.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Busan City will hold the ‘1st International Tourism City Forum’ over two days from the 13th to the 14th at Haeundae Nurimaru APEC House and BEXCO.

This forum, held for the first time this year, serves as a platform for academic discussions and discourse formation on the value and development direction of Busan as an international tourism city. It will be held in conjunction with the ‘50th Anniversary Commemorative Busan International Academic Conference of the Korea Tourism Association’ at BEXCO starting on the 14th.

Through the forum, the city plans to promote Busan as an international tourism city to domestic and international scholars and experts in the tourism field, as well as to publicize the bid for the 2030 Busan World Expo.

The forum opening ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. on the 13th at Nurimaru APEC House, attended by about 100 people including Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun, Assemblywoman Hwang Bo-seung-hee, government officials, domestic and international tourism experts, and representatives of the local tourism industry.

At the opening ceremony, Professor Park Sang-hyun of Hanyang Cyber University, chairman of the Industry-Academia-Government Cooperation Committee of the Korea Tourism Association, will declare support for the bid for the 2030 Busan World Expo on behalf of the tourism academic community. A digital touch performance promoting industry-government-academia cooperation for the successful advancement of Busan as an international tourism city will also be held.

Before the opening ceremony, starting at 3 p.m., Angeline Tang, head of the Singapore Tourism Board’s Korea office, will kick off the forum with a keynote presentation titled ‘Reconstructing the Future Tourism Image through the Case of Singapore.’ Following this, Lee Jung-sil, president of the Busan Tourism Organization, will present on the topic ‘Busan International Tourism City Project Execution Strategy.’

Based on the previously presented topics, a panel discussion will be held featuring Professor Seo Won-seok of Kyung Hee University and Research Fellow Jeong Kwang-min of the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute.

After the opening ceremony on the 13th, Timothy Jeong, distinguished professor at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, will deliver a keynote lecture on the future vision of international tourism cities through smart technology.

The opening ceremony held at Nurimaru will be simultaneously broadcast to the BEXCO venue, where about 1,500 domestic and international scholars and experts in the tourism field gathered will also watch the ceremony together.

Additionally, the event will be live-streamed on YouTube, allowing online viewing even for those who cannot attend in person.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun said, “Busan has rich tourism content such as a sea close to the city center, various festivals throughout the four seasons, and cultural assets with history and stories, giving it high potential as an international tourism city.” He added, “Through the construction of Gadeok New Airport, hosting the 2030 World Expo Busan, and redevelopment of the North Port, we will create ‘Busan, a city where people want to live again.’”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.