Familiarization Tour Conducted with Chinese Industry and Airlines
Joint Discounts Offered by Online Travel Agencies
Busan City and the Busan Tourism Organization plan to create a "Busan You Want to Visit" atmosphere by conducting comprehensive promotional marketing to capture tourism demand from the Chinese-speaking market ahead of the full-scale recovery of the overseas tourism market.
From March 16 to 17, the city conducted a familiarization tour (fam tour) targeting major Chinese tourism industries and airlines. This fam tour focused on practical measures to attract tourists by providing a platform for communication between the visiting delegation and Busan industry to exchange opinions on developing customized local tourism products.
On the morning of the 17th, the delegation visited City Hall to share trends in the Chinese local tourism market and discuss effective promotional marketing strategies following the resumption and increase of flight routes, agreeing to expand mutual cooperation.
Chinese industry representatives and airlines paid a courtesy visit to the Deputy Mayor of Economy of Busan.
Additionally, throughout March, various online and offline events utilizing Busan’s spring flower content are underway.
Through social networking services (SNS) such as China’s Weibo, comment events are being held to provide Busan tourism souvenirs, and to instill the image of Busan as a spring flower city among local Chinese-speaking residents, spring flower-themed coffee is being developed and sold at six popular coffee chain stores in Wuhan and Chengdu.
The city plans to participate in the "Travel like a local" roadshow held at a major shopping mall in Hong Kong in March to introduce Busan tourism content such as marine sports and gourmet food. In February, a solo briefing session and consultation meeting were held in Taipei, Taiwan, successfully attracting about 2,500 corporate and cruise tourists.
Furthermore, to attract individual travelers, joint discount promotions with major Chinese online travel agencies such as Ctrip, Qunar, and Taiwan/Hong Kong’s Klook will be launched starting in April. A Busan tourism page will be opened on these platforms to introduce diverse tourist attractions, and large-scale discount promotions for accommodations and tourist facilities will be implemented.
Also in April, the city will host special coverage of Busan tourism by four major provincial-level TV broadcasters from China. Through special broadcasts on Busan tourism, it is expected that the changed status of the city after COVID-19, along with its attractions, entertainment, and food, will be conveyed directly to Chinese households.
From the end of March, air routes will also fully reopen. Starting with the resumption of China Airlines’ Taipei-Busan route (March 26), Cathay Pacific’s Hong Kong-Busan route (March 28), and Air Busan’s Kaohsiung-Busan route (March 30), full-scale flight resumptions are scheduled from April, with special welcome promotions for the resumption being prepared.
A city official stated, “As the global tourism market fully recovers, we expect a warm breeze like spring to blow through the Busan tourism market, starting with the Chinese-speaking spring flower promotion. Through local marketing in key markets, Busan will actively capture latent demand for travel to Korea and make every effort to quickly restore Busan tourism to pre-COVID-19 levels.”
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