October 1-8 Korea's Representative Convergent MICE Project 'Festival Siwol' Performance Analysis Results Announced
Analysis Using Korea Tourism Organization Big Data and Surveys on Visitor Changes, Urban Tourism Demand, and Village Operation Satisfaction
Busan City completed the performance evaluation analysis of the ‘Festival Siwol,’ which was held for the first time as Korea’s representative convergence MICE project from October 1 to 8.
‘Festival Siwol’ was planned under the theme ‘Wind of Siwol,’ benchmarking the world’s largest convergence festival, South by Southwest (SXSW), held in Austin, Texas, USA, to complete Busan as a global convention city and a ‘Global Tourism Hub City.’
The city hosted 17 individual events across six fields?music, film, culture, food, industry, and technology?with the aim of increasing urban tourism demand, extending the stay duration of domestic and international tourists in Busan, and supporting exchanges among industry stakeholders.
Starting with the ‘Siwol Opening Ceremony,’ which consisted of a fashion show, orchestra, and citizen choir, the festival successfully held events linked to ‘Festival Siwol,’ including ▲‘Asia Startup Expo (10.1?10.2)’ ▲‘Design Festival Siwol (10.1?10.2)’ ▲‘Korea-ASEAN Fashion Week (10.1?10.5)’ ▲‘AI＋X Conference (10.1?10.2)’ ▲‘Busan International Film Festival (10.2?10.11)’ ▲‘World Creator Festival (10.2?10.7)’ ▲‘K-Music Season Good Night Concert (10.3?10.5)’ ▲‘Busan Global Webtoon Festival (10.3?10.6)’ ▲‘Busan International Rock Festival (10.4?10.6)’ ▲‘Busan International Performing Arts Market (10.4?10.8)’ ▲‘International Food Expo & Marina Chef Challenge (10.4?10.6)’ ▲‘Global Data Hackathon (10.4?10.6)’ ▲‘Craft Beer Festival (10.5?10.6)’ ▲‘Asia Content Film Market (10.5?10.8)’ ▲‘Beyond Hangeul & K-Culture (10.6?10.8)’ and others.
The city announced the results of an analysis of the outcomes related to ▲changes in visitors by participating event ▲expansion of urban tourism demand ▲satisfaction with village operations following the hosting of ‘Festival Siwol.’ The performance evaluation was conducted by the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation of Yeongsan University.
▲Changes in Visitors by Participating Event
Through convergence, the effect of linkage was confirmed, including an increase in the total number of visitors to the ‘Festival Siwol’ participating events.
Specifically, the total number of visitors to the 17 participating events of ‘Festival Siwol’ was approximately 400,000, an increase of about 100,000 visitors, or 33%, compared to individual events held separately. Despite a short sales period of just over a month, about 5,000 integrated tickets covering all 17 events were sold, confirming the linkage effect of convergence.
▲Expansion of Urban Tourism Demand
With the integrated branding of ‘Siwol’ and the appeal of ‘Global Hub City Busan,’ the number of foreign visitors in October increased significantly, proving the effect of expanding urban tourism demand through ‘Festival Siwol.’
Analyzing visitor big data from the Korea Tourism Organization’s Data Lab, the number of foreign visitors to Busan in October was approximately 510,000, an increase of about 170,000 visitors, or 50%, compared to the previous year, exceeding the domestic average growth rate of 43% during the same period.
In particular, during the ‘Festival Siwol’ period, the increase rate of foreign visitors to Busan rose by 77% compared to the same period last year, which was 24% higher than the domestic average of 53% for the same period.
The average daily number of foreign visitors during the ‘Festival Siwol’ period increased by 1,800 compared to the average daily number of foreign tourists in Busan in October this year, and by 6,000 compared to the yearly daily average.
To verify the possibility of a natural increase in foreign visitors due to holidays during the period, a comparison was made of the increase rates in the average daily number of foreign tourists with neighboring provinces during the ‘Festival Siwol’ period, revealing a noticeable difference and confirming the tourism effectiveness of ‘Festival Siwol.’
Especially, the average length of stay, the proportion of visitors staying four nights or more, and the number of foreign overnight visitors in October increased significantly, confirming that the festival’s objective of ‘extending tourists’ stay duration’ was effectively achieved through diverse content offerings.
The proportion of overnight visitors among Busan visitors in October was 18%, 3% higher than the national average, and the proportion of visitors staying four nights or more increased by 14.1% compared to the previous year (4 nights 11.2%, 5 nights 3.4%, 6 nights 27.7%).
Notably, the number of foreign overnight visitors in October was 327,000, a 50% increase compared to the same period last year, confirming the effect of extending the stay duration through ‘Festival Siwol.’
Along with this, credit card spending by foreign tourists in the tourism sector also increased significantly compared to the previous year.
During the ‘Festival Siwol’ period, credit card spending by foreign visitors in the tourism sector increased by 6.8 billion KRW, or 39%, compared to the previous year, which was 14% higher than the domestic average growth rate of 25%, and overall spending in October increased by 26%.
In particular, Busan’s share of total foreign tourist consumption in Korea is usually about 9?10% monthly, but in October, Busan accounted for 21% of the increase in total foreign tourist consumption nationwide compared to the previous year, confirming the hosting effect of ‘Festival Siwol.’
▲In summary, ‘Festival Siwol’ contributed to creating new tourism demand through convergence by significantly increasing the total urban tourism demand not only during the event period but throughout October.
This dispels some concerns that convergence MICE would merely redistribute the total number of visitors to previously dispersed events without increasing the overall urban tourism demand in the long term.
Moreover, by linking various cultural tourism contents under the ‘Siwol’ brand, it provided consumers with the joy of content selection and a clear reason to visit Busan during this period, thereby generating new tourism demand.
Especially, positive online responses after the ‘Festival Siwol’ increased by 9.6% compared to before the event, and the majority of participants in surveys responded that ‘Festival Siwol’ would contribute to establishing Busan as a ‘Global Hub City.’
▲Domestic and international experts invited to individual events expected that ‘Siwol’ would help Busan establish itself as a global cultural tourism city and expressed their intention to revisit, having experienced the diverse cultural tourism contents of ‘Siwol.’
Key domestic and international experts invited to individual events participated not only in their respective events but also in various cultural tourism contents of ‘Festival Siwol.’ They fully enjoyed Busan’s cultural tourism contents and regarded the unique combination of business and cultural tourism experiences as something only Busan during Siwol could offer. They evaluated that ‘Festival Siwol’ would serve as a catalyst for Busan to become a world-class cultural tourism city.
Additionally, 84% of invited guests for each participating event responded that they would visit Busan again during next year’s ‘Festival Siwol.’
▲Satisfaction with Village Operations
The ‘Siwol Village,’ established as a convergence exhibition and networking hub in the outdoor parking lot of BEXCO, operated normally, attracting about 14,000 visitors to various conferences and performances held there.
There were six conferences, five networking parties, 41 stage performances, and 15 exhibition contents over eight days, with approximately 14,000 visitors (an average of 1,750 per day).
However, due to rain and strong winds during the operation period, some performances were shortened or suspended. Given the outdoor nature of the venue, there were significant fluctuations in visitor attendance depending on weather, and the boundary between networking among stakeholders and general visitors was unclear. The convenience of the integrated application will be improved by reflecting these points in next year’s project planning.
Park Geun-rok, Director of the Tourism MICE Bureau, said, “As an online platform founder once said, ‘Where people gather, money is made.’ Recently, the trend in convergence MICE inevitably emphasizes the importance of means that can attract participants. Despite the short preparation period, the first attempt at the ‘Convergence MICE Festival Siwol’ this year satisfied diverse demands of MICE participants through convergence and expansion with exhibitions, events, performances, and cultural arts, created new urban tourism demand, and demonstrated the potential to function as a business platform. We will promptly address some issues raised in this performance evaluation and strive to help ‘Festival Siwol’ grow into a world-renowned convergence festival next year.”
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