Self-Camera Worth Hundreds of Millions Capturing Haeundae Beach Scenery Will Be Banned Starting Next Year

'Panorama Haeundae' Ceases Operation Due to Low Usage Rates

Busan Haeundae-gu is discontinuing the operation of a multi-million won self-camera installed to revitalize beach tourism after three years due to low usage rates.

On the 29th, Yonhap News reported that Haeundae-gu will stop operating the high-altitude self-camera equipment called 'Panorama Haeundae,' installed on the sandy beach of Haeundae Beach, starting next year.

Seagulls flying in the sky. (This photo is not directly related to the article.) Pixabay

The 'Panorama Haeundae Service' is a service that captures the scenic Busan Haeundae sea and visiting tourists using panoramic shooting techniques similar to drone shots and provides them to tourists for free. Tourists can stand at designated photo zones on the beach and connect to two high-resolution cameras installed on the rooftop of the Haeundae Tourism Facility Office via their mobile phones to take self-photos and 10-second short-form videos.

The district installed this equipment in October 2022 with a budget of 210 million won supported through a Busan city public contest. They promoted the advantage of overcoming the limitations of traditional smartphone or selfie stick photography at tourist spots by capturing both the subject and the background simultaneously with an optimal angle.

Panorama Haeundae service filming site. Provided by Busan City

At the time, the goal was to attract a large number of young domestic and international tourists through the Panorama Haeundae service and to activate it as another famous attraction of Busan.

However, due to insufficient promotion and the inconvenience of having to sign up and log in to use the camera, the usage rate remained low. Although there was promotion in February last year claiming it was emerging as a popular tourist content with 124 users per day, the usage rate from October to December 2022 was only 2,361 times over three months, averaging 26 times per day. Last year, it averaged 70 times per day (total 25,301 times), and this year it has been about 40 times per day (total 13,071 times).

In this situation, when Haeundae-gu submitted a budget proposal requesting 25 million won for camera maintenance next year, the district council criticized it as a waste of budget and cut the entire amount.

Haeundae-gu mentioned to Yonhap News that there were some inconveniences in use. The district stated, "At the time of installation, citizens could use it comfortably without logging in, but after a joint government audit that year, login was required for personal information protection reasons, which lowered usage rates," adding, "Since maintenance budget has not been secured, we are internally considering whether to dismantle it next year."

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