Busan passed three million foreign visitors for the first time in October 2025 — then passed it again in 2026, two months earlier. The city is now pacing past four million, built on Taiwan, China and Japan, with the United States as its fastest-growing long-haul market.
The curve is vertical: 482,305 foreign visitors in 2022, 2,929,192 in 2024, 3,643,439 in 2025 — the first year above three million since records began in 2014. In 2026 the city counted 2,927,674 by the end of July (+46.1% year on year, more than double the national +21.3%), passed one million in the first quarter faster than ever, and crossed three million again in August — two months ahead of 2025.
City hall's roadmap now targets five million foreign tourists by 2028. The demand is genuinely diversified: eight source markets grew more than 20% in 2025, including Vietnam, India, Russia, Hong Kong and the UK.
Taiwan leads 2026 with 605,000 visitors through July, followed by mainland China (594,000) and Japan (340,000); the US jumped 78.4% to 259,675 despite having no direct flight. The sea lane is the novelty: 24/7 cruise terminal operations brought 26,556 Chinese arrivals by ship in May 2026 alone, against 2,652 a year earlier.
The calendar anchors are fixed: the Busan International Film Festival — Asia's largest — runs its 31st edition 6–15 October 2026 at the Busan Cinema Center with 316 films, and the Fireworks Festival follows over Gwangalli in November. Shoulder season is the local secret: May and late October give you the beaches without the crowds.
Our read: come in October if you can take the crowds — BIFF plus fireworks season is when the city is fully itself — but book Haeundae three months out. If festivals are not the point, late May is the sweet spot: warm enough for Gwangalli, cheap enough for Signiel. And watch the Taiwan and US numbers: direct long-haul routes tend to follow them, which is how Busan keeps ending up on new route maps.
Subscribe to the digest and receive key market signals every two weeks.