BUSAN, Mar. 25 (Korea Bizwire) – The South Korean port city of Busan experienced a sharp rise in international tourist arrivals last year as the country’s travel industry continued its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to government data released on Friday.
The number of foreign visitors to Busan in 2023 soared to more than 1.8 million, a staggering 277.4 percent increase from the previous year, reported Busan’s metropolitan government and tourism agency.
Japanese travelers accounted for the largest group at 344,537, followed by visitors from Taiwan at 257,049, the United States at 168,451, and China at 120,610.
The robust growth of Taiwanese arrivals signaled Busan’s tourism market diversifying beyond its traditional reliance on Japanese and Chinese visitors, which dominated the city’s international travel scene before the pandemic.
While inbound tourism to Busan has not fully rebounded to its 2019 pre-pandemic peak of close to 2.7 million foreign visitors, last year’s figures reached 67.7 percent of that level.
In 2019, Japanese nationals formed the largest contingent at 577,497, far outpacing the 364,744 arrivals from China, which ranked second.
“Japanese tourist numbers last year recovered to around 60 percent of 2019 levels, and we’ve seen accelerating arrivals from Japan since May,” said a Busan city official, who added that Chinese visitors have also been slowly returning after a slump caused by diplomatic tensions and Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The official noted that group tours from China resumed in August, helping drive the upswing in Chinese tourists to Busan.
Image credit: Kobiz Media, Busan City, Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
