The city of Busan is unveiling large-scale nighttime tourism content aimed at domestic and international visitors coming to Busan for BTS concerts. The strategy is to connect the concert boom to local tourism and consumer spending by hosting an event combining traditional liquor, food, and cultural experiences.
Busan, together with the Busan Tourism Organization, will hold the "Star Sea Busan Night Market - Early Summer Season" for five days from June 10 to 14 in the lotus complex area of Hwamyeong Ecological Park, the city said Sunday.
The Star Sea Busan Night Market is the flagship content of "Star Sea Busan," a nighttime tourism brand the city is nurturing. Following a successful run last fall when large crowds gathered for the event, this year it has been expanded into an early summer season.
The event focuses on providing Busan's distinctive nighttime tourism content to domestic and international visitors coming to Busan, particularly in connection with the BTS World Tour Arirang IN BUSAN concert held on June 12-13. The city also expects effects of extending tourists' stay and expanding consumer spending in local commercial districts.
The event is organized into three themed spaces centered on a "Traditional Liquor Pop-up Store": Starlight Tavern, Starlight Hearth, and Starlight Plaza.
At the Starlight Tavern, a pop-up store called "SPIRIT BUSAN," which introduces Busan's representative traditional liquors, will operate. Visitors can enjoy local traditional liquors and cocktails made from them. A "Sunset Romance Platform" where visitors can view sunsets and night scenery, and a "Night Outing Food Zone" featuring food from local small business owners and food trucks, will also be set up.
Experience-based content has also been strengthened. At the Starlight Hearth, a cooking experience where visitors make and eat jeon (Korean savory pancakes) themselves and a program for brewing one's own makgeolli (rice wine) will be held. A children's cooking class for family visitors will also operate.
A wellness program called Healing Naru, which makes use of the natural environment of Hwamyeong Ecological Park, also draws attention. It is designed so visitors can enjoy both health and relaxation through Barre, a full-body exercise program applying ballet movements, and a sunset running program.
At the Starlight Plaza, a flea market involving small business owners and children and a Tourism Dure experience program will operate. Various performances, talk concerts, and on-site events will also be held.
Busan has also prepared customized services for foreign tourists visiting during the BTS concert period. A traditional liquor exchange voucher will be included in the welcome kit, and event information leaflets will be produced in Korean and English. Chinese and Japanese guidance will be provided via QR codes.
In addition, to improve access to the event venue, transportation guidance promotional materials will be placed at key points, and a QR code payment system will be introduced on a trial basis at some food zones.
Busan has recently been strengthening its stay-type tourism strategy linking performances, festivals, and nighttime tourism. The plan is to encourage visitors coming to Busan for BTS concerts not to stay only at the concert venue but to tour various parts of the region and continue their consumption and tourism activities.
Detailed event schedules and reservation information can be found at "Visit Busan."
"I hope domestic and international tourists who come to Busan for the BTS concert will enjoy traditional liquor, food, and various experience programs together, and remember Busan's early summer nights as special," said Na Yoon-bin, director general of the Tourism and MICE Bureau. "We will continue to expand nighttime tourism content that captures Busan's unique charm."
