Busan's foreign tourism market has moved beyond the post-COVID-19 stage of simply recovering visitor numbers and entered a phase of qualitative growth centered on expanded spending, according to a new report. With consumption rising faster than tourist arrivals, the tourism industry's ripple effect on the regional economy is also growing larger, the analysis found.
According to the Busan Development Institute's report "Consumption Behavior of Foreign Tourists Visiting Busan Through Credit Card Big Data," released Wednesday, foreign tourists visiting Busan nearly doubled from 1.82 million in 2023 to 3.64 million in 2025, a record high.
Foreign tourist spending also rose sharply. Estimated foreign credit card approvals expanded from 347.4 billion won in 2023 to 780.9 billion won last year. In particular, while the foreign tourist growth rate was 24.4% last year, the card spending growth rate reached 41.7%, showing a clear effect of tourist inflows translating into actual regional consumption, the analysis found.
By nationality, Taiwan and Japan have established themselves as core markets for Busan tourism, with high levels of both visitation and spending. The United States and Singapore have relatively fewer visitors but were assessed as high-value, stay-type markets with high per-capita spending.
By contrast, China showed a relatively low level of spending compared with its visitor numbers, displaying a consumption pattern centered on the retail sector. Hong Kong and Thailand were classified as emerging markets with high growth potential.
Changes were also detected in foreign consumption patterns. By industry, retail accounted for the largest share at 36.5%, but spending on dining and bars, travel and lodging, medical and beauty, and leisure and culture grew rapidly. In particular, the expansion of spending on lodging, dining, and medical and beauty stood out, showing that foreign tourist consumption is shifting from a shopping focus toward stay-type and lifestyle-oriented consumption.
This is interpreted as a sign that Busan's tourism industry is changing from a mere visitor destination into a stay-type tourism city. As foreign tourists spend more on lodging, dining, beauty, and cultural experiences, they are having a positive impact on the local commercial district as a whole.
The Busan Development Institute recommended that future foreign tourism policy focus on stimulating consumption and linking it to the regional economy, rather than simply expanding visitor numbers. The analysis stated that there is a need to maximize the economic ripple effect of tourism consumption through data-based policies that consider consumption characteristics by nationality and tourism consumption functions by region.
"Busan's foreign tourism market has entered a growth stage in which both the scale and scope of consumption are expanding, beyond an increase in tourists," researcher Choi Jung-mi said. "Since a structural change is appearing from shopping-centered consumption to stay-type consumption such as lodging, dining, medical and beauty, it will serve as important basic data for establishing future tourism policy."
