Busan positioning itself to be next big meetings city

Busan city in South Korea is positioning itself to become the next biggest destination for the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions (MICE) industry.

Supporting this push, several cultural venues are set to open in the next 3 years including the Busan International Arts Centre, the Busan Lotte Town Tower, and the Busan Opera House. Other noteworthy MICE venues include the Nurimaru APEC House and the eco-friendly F1963. All of these attractions will serve to increase the attractiveness of the city as an international meetings and conference location.

Five years ago, Busan received the UNESCO “Creative City of Film” designation and since then it has been pulling in visitors from around the world to such events as the Busan One Asia Festival and Art Busan.

Coming up in just a couple of months, this beach hotspot full of historic temples has been selected to host the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit taking place on November 25 and 26, 2019.

Supporting the MICE industry is the Busan Tourism Organization (BTO) which provides subsidies to help push this important sector for South Korea.

This young organization was officially founded just 6 short years ago in 2013, and it has been working full-steam to make Busan city a global MICE destination. Since its founding, the organization has taken over operations for a number of organizations including the Yonghoman Sightseeing Boat Terminal, Taejongdae Recreation Area, and Yongdusan Park.

On June 19, 2015 BTO won the gold prize in the “Excellent Meeting” category at the 2014 Korea MICE Expo, then on August 28 in the same  year, the organization won the Korea Young MICE Supporters award. In 2016, BTO was named the “Star of Korean Tourism” by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the following year, it won the grand prize at the Korea Good Brand Awards.