National Geographic's 'Top Travel Destination of 2023' Busan! ... Exploring Tourist Attractions in Every Corner of the Original Downtown

Wondosim Revitalization Festival (May 20-21) Held

Coffee and Craft Beer City ... 'Coffee Week' Operation

Busan City is providing plenty of opportunities to fully enjoy the tourist attractions and contents of the original downtown area even outside the festival period, as the 8th Busan Original Downtown Revitalization Festival ‘Busan Go Festival’ is held on May 20 and 21.

Operation of the Central Busan Coffee Week Program.

To revitalize tourism in the original downtown area, the city is promoting the ‘Alleyway Tourism Resource Development Project.’ Among Busan’s various alleyways, Jeonpo Tool Alley, Mangmi Alley, and Bongsan Village Masil-gil were selected in 2021 and 2022 respectively and developed into representative tourist landmarks of Busan.

Last year’s selected site, ▲Yeongdo’s ‘Bongsan Village Masil-gil,’ offers a ‘stay-type product’ for revitalizing tourism in the original downtown area, centered around Bongsan Village in Yeongdo, where Busan Port can be seen at a glance, allowing visitors to enjoy the charming original downtown and various parts of Yeongdo.

Also, from early June to October, ▲the Yaho (夜好) Bongsan Tour, BBB (Berry, Bongsan, Bus) Experience Tour, and 2030 Friday Night View Tour will be operated every Friday and Saturday as 1-night 2-day or day-trip products, providing opportunities to experience Bongsan Village’s blueberry picking and accommodation, Huinnyeoul Culture Village, Kkangkkangi Art Village, Bongrae-dong Waterfront Coffee Specialty Street, and more. For the Bongsan Village Free Tour and Yeongdo-Bongsan Stamp Tour, visitors who visit major tourist sites in Yeongdo and get their stamps certified will receive souvenirs and discount coupons for major tourist spots in Yeongdo.

▲This year, ‘Dadaepo Davichi Alley’ has been selected as the target site for the Alleyway Tourism Resource Development Project, and tourism products will be developed with the themes of ‘sea’ and ‘eco-friendliness,’ expanding the relatively concentrated tourist destinations in the eastern Busan area to the western Busan area and the original downtown area.

In particular, ▲from June 16 to July 2, over three weeks, the ‘Busan Alley Festival’ will be promoted every week in each alleyway, highlighting the unique colors of each area and carrying out content created together with local residents.

The city is also promoting ‘regional specialized projects’ to discover and support tourism content throughout Busan.

With Busan being selected as the ‘World’s Best Travel Destination of 2023’ by National Geographic and gaining new attention, the city is conducting various programs evenly across regions such as central and western Busan under the themes of ▲‘Spring’ - Coffee, ▲‘Summer’ - Beer, and ▲‘Autumn’ - Picnic (Coffee + Beer) to allow people to enjoy Busan’s coffee and craft beer throughout the city.

In April, to promote Busan as the holy land of coffee, the ‘2023 KNBC & SCA Market’ held at BEXCO produced and distributed a promotional leaflet titled ‘Busan Specialty Cafe Map,’ which received great response.

This time, ▲the ‘Central Busan Coffee Week’ will be held to promote Busan’s coffee brands and local cafes in the central Busan area.

One of the regional specialized content programs, ‘Central Busan Coffee Week,’ will be held three times this year for one week each in May, July, and October. In particular, the Coffee Week held from May 15 to May 21 is linked with the original downtown festival ‘Busan Go Festival,’ centered on Yeongdo-gu and Jung-gu.

For one week, experiential cafe-based programs such as baking classes, coffee tastings, and barista talk shows are being operated under the concept of ‘Living Drunk on Story & View,’ utilizing the history and broad scenery of the original downtown area.

▲In the western Busan area, events will be held in connection with planned exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, picnic tours, and picnics at Hwamyung and Samnak Ecological Parks.

▲In the eastern Busan area, targeting the diverse MZ generation with pub crawling tours and simultaneously promoting Busan’s unique craft beer and the spectacular nightscape of the eastern Busan area are expected to have promotional effects.

Additionally, ▲this year, attractive local contents will be discovered through the Sunday Morning Market in Suyeong-gu and the operation of Art Stay in Jung-gu, and the projects will be carried out after expert consulting evaluations to ensure more effective program operation.

Yu Gyuwon, Director of the Tourism MICE Bureau, said, “Busan is a city where every place, including local cafes, alleyways, hidden night views, and resting spaces, can become a tourist destination, and it is full of stories in every nook and cranny.” He added, “We will secure growth engines and create synergy by linking various cultural industries and tourism resources by region within Busan, and fill the content with citizen-created content such as regional promotional teams and walking apps.”

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