"Catch Japanese Tourists" ... Busan City Launches Aggressive Sales Marketing Campaign

Japan Travel Industry Association and Tourism Promotion Agreement Signed

'2030 Busan World Expo Bid K-Tourism Festa'

Busan City, in collaboration with the Korea Tourism Organization and Busan Tourism Organization, is conducting an "aggressive sales marketing" campaign targeting the Japanese Golden Week holiday (April 29 to May 7) to attract Japanese tourists, Busan's primary tourism market.

2030 Busan World Expo Bid Support K-Tourism Festa.

From April 20 to 22, the city and organizations visited two key cities in Japan to carry out on-site sales marketing.

Japan accounted for 21% of all foreign tourists to Busan before COVID-19, and its tourism market recovery is currently the fastest, making it the undisputed top market for Busan tourism.

This visit to major Japanese cities served as an opportunity to further strengthen mutual exchanges and promote tourism activation between the two regions.

On the first day of the visit, April 20, the city signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kyushu branch of the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) for a campaign to attract Japanese tourists.

Busan City signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kyushu branch of the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) for a campaign to attract Japanese tourists.

The signing ceremony was attended by the Deputy Mayor of Economy, the Vice President of the Korea Tourism Organization, and the head of JATA's Kyushu branch. The agreement includes not only the focused attraction of Busan tourists but also mutual cooperation for the bid to host the 2030 Busan World Expo.

Notably, during the ceremony, 10 Japanese travel agencies affiliated with JATA and 5 Busan tourism companies discussed joint development of tourism products and collaborative promotions, fostering communication.

Kyushu is a core market for Busan tourism, and this agreement is expected to revitalize the tourism industry, which had been stagnant due to COVID-19.

From April 21 to 22, together with the Korea Tourism Organization, the "2030 Busan World Expo Bid K-Tourism Festa" was held in Hiroshima and Fukuoka, attended by about 2,000 local citizens.

The event featured a K-culture roadshow including ▲Korean Wave star talk shows and ▲non-verbal performances, along with promotions for the 2030 Busan World Expo bid and focused marketing for Busan tourism, receiving enthusiastic responses from local audiences.

Additionally, promotional booths were set up to conduct various events informing Japanese citizens about the 2030 Busan World Expo bid and Busan tourism.

Alongside on-site sales marketing, the city is running Busan-bound promotions targeting individual tourists (FIT) using shipping companies, online travel agencies, and the Busan Tourism Pass.

These include ▲providing admission tickets to major tourist attractions for passengers using Busan-bound shipping companies (from April, first-come-first-served), ▲discount promotions on the Visit Busan Pass via online travel agencies, and ▲issuing accommodation discount coupons in collaboration with a major Japanese online travel agency (Rakuten Travel) starting in May, effectively guiding potential inbound demand to Busan.

For the first time this year, the city is implementing an overseas outbound agency incentive program to create customized local products and is preparing promotions to attract large-scale group tourists. Recruitment of companies will be completed in April, with full-scale customer attraction starting in May to drive regional tourism revitalization.

A city official stated, "Currently, Japanese air routes have recovered to over 80% of pre-COVID levels with about 200 weekly flights. According to TripAdvisor's survey on preferred destinations for Japanese tourists, Busan ranks first among destinations with high tourism recovery rates this spring, and Busan's favorability continues to rise." He added, "Especially, we will swiftly convert the high interest in K-culture shown by Japanese citizens at this event into demand for Busan tourism, striving to make Busan the optimal international tourism city that the world wants to visit, keeping pace with the changed tourism trends after COVID-19."

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