Busan Tourism Organization targets inland China market with Xi'an roadshow

The Busan Tourism Organization, in partnership with the Busan city government, has launched a push to expand its reach into China's inland tourism market, using Xi'an as its base in the country's northwest. Xi'an, which has a direct flight connection to Busan, is drawing attention as a next-generation key market for inland Chinese tourism, backed by strong growth potential and robust outbound travel demand.

The organization announced Monday that it held the "Busan Brand Store in Xi'an" — subtitled "Hang Hang Busan" or "Hype Busan" — over two days, Friday and Saturday, at JoyCity, a large mixed-use shopping mall in Xi'an, along with other venues. The event featured aggressive marketing aimed at both local tourism industry players and general consumers.

"Hang Hang Busan" is an expression used by China's MZ generation online, meaning "Busan is super hot right now." The organization set up a pop-up store evoking Busan's sea and landmarks at JoyCity, which draws up to 100,000 visitors on weekends and sits in one of Xi'an's prime tourism districts near the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and the city's night market strip, drawing considerable attention from Xi'an residents.

The pop-up store was organized around five zones and drew about 2,000 visitors over the two days: an ocean experience zone featuring a surfboard balance photo opportunity inspired by Songjeong Beach; a beauty experience zone where Busan beauty companies demonstrated idol-style hair and makeup inspired by Heungnyeoul; a healing zone operated jointly with a wellness center offering aroma diagnosis experiences inspired by Haeundae; a food zone with Samjin Eomuk fish cake tastings and a fishing game inspired by Jagalchi; and a stage zone featuring a Busan landmark quiz show and performances by a locally popular K-pop dance team, inspired by Gwangalli.

The event also maximized its online reach through wide-ranging digital marketing, leveraging major Chinese social media platforms including Xiaohongshu, WeChat and Weibo, 10 prominent local influencers, and local media outlets such as Xian Wang.

A Busan tourism promotion briefing and business-to-business consultation session held Friday at MORR HALL in Xi'an brought together about 50 participants, including a Busan delegation and representatives from Air Busan, Trip.com, U-TOUR, and other Chinese airlines, travel agencies and online travel agencies.

A representative from a local travel agency who attended the event said the company plans to develop tourism products linking Busan and surrounding areas with Seoul and Jeju, with the aim of extending the stays of tourists from China's northwest and boosting inbound travel to Korea.

Lee Jeong-sil, president of the Busan Tourism Organization, said the organization will expand its Busan tourism marketing to new first-tier cities and inland strategic markets, while strengthening its network with local airlines, online travel agencies and the travel industry to attract more foreign tourists.