Fans fly thousands of miles as city transforms into one giant concert venue; accommodation cancellation controversy puts Busan's hospitality on trial
At 6 p.m. Wednesday, a steady stream of people flowed toward the "BTS THE CITY Arirang Busan Welcome Center" across from the Eurasia Platform at Busan Station — travelers stepping off trains with backpacks, fans chatting with friends while clutching purple light sticks, others lifting their phones to capture the scene. Their expressions varied, but the excitement was the same.
"BTS World Tour Arirang IN Busan," a concert marking the 13th anniversary of BTS's debut, is set for Friday and Saturday at Busan Asiad Main Stadium. Gimhae International Airport and Busan Station have been buzzing with ARMY fans arriving from around the world.
Inside the Welcome Center, BTS songs filled the air. Fans with purple merchandise dangling from their bags lingered at each booth, soaking up the festival atmosphere ahead of the shows. Photo zones were packed with visitors waiting for their turn, while souvenir booths drew crowds clutching red event tickets.
A woman in her 20s who said she had come from Singapore could barely contain her excitement. "I flew thousands of kilometers just to see Jungkook," she said. Nearby, a middle-aged Japanese woman smiled shyly and said she had crossed the sea because she loved BTS so much, while her husband stood beside her, photographing her beaming face.
It was not only foreign visitors. A man in his 20s from Busan rushed over with his girlfriend straight after work. "We came running the moment I got off work to collect the stamp rally souvenir," he said, holding up a red ticket. He added that participants could also receive beverages and ramyun in addition to merchandise.
The Welcome Center, which opened June 5, has grown into more than a tourist information point — it now functions as an interactive platform. Music experience zones, a K-beauty corner and an AI experience booth drew large numbers of foreign tourists, while a stamp rally tied to official event tickets and photo booth sessions also proved popular. With luggage storage, delivery services and tourism information all under one roof, the center has become a key hub for visitors before and after the concerts.
"The number of visitors keeps growing as the concert gets closer," a staff member at the center said. "More than 90 percent of them are foreign tourists."
At Gimhae Airport's international terminal, ARMY fans were arriving from early Wednesday morning. Most came on direct flights from Singapore, Japan, China and Taiwan, though many others had connected through Japan or China to reach Busan. Long lines formed at the arrivals welcome booth set up by the Busan Tourism Organization and the Korea Tourism Organization, where fans queued to collect welcome kits containing Busan tourist maps, handheld fans and name tags.
Busan city officials expect more than 100,000 domestic and international fans to visit during the concert period, and anticipate a strong boost to the local economy through accommodation, dining and tourism spending. The concerts are also tied to HYBE's "BTS THE CITY" project, which turns the host city itself into part of the concert experience — transforming Busan into one vast BTS space.
But beneath the excitement, some voices of frustration have also emerged. A Japanese tourist in her 30s said a hotel she had booked for three nights abruptly canceled her reservation. "I scrambled to find another place, but nowhere had consecutive nights available, so I had to split five nights across five different hotels," she said.
Another accommodation provider drew widespread anger after responding to a tourist's questions — about check-in procedures, elevator location and whether a reservation might be automatically canceled — not with answers but with a string of profanity-laced insults before canceling the booking outright. Online users reacted with outrage, calling it "a national embarrassment" and saying it had "tarnished Korea's image." As the backlash grew, Busan city officials said they had begun looking into the details, including the name of the establishment.
With the eyes of the world on Busan, the BTS concerts amount to more than a celebrity event — they are a test of the city's standing as a tourism destination and its cultural maturity. "Hospitality is not a slogan; it's an attitude," said a local tourism expert. "Whether the 100,000 visitors leave with warm memories or a bitter aftertaste will be decided not inside the concert venue, but in how they experience the city around it."
kaf2002@heraldcorp.com
