A BSI chart from the Busan tourism industry business trend survey [Provided by Busan Tourism Organization]
A BSI chart from the Busan tourism industry business trend survey [Provided by Busan Tourism Organization]

The Business Survey Index for Busan's tourism sector is expected to exceed the benchmark in the third quarter, signaling a sharp rise in confidence about an industry recovery. The BSI is an economic indicator that quantifies business sentiment and forward-looking outlooks through surveys of industry operators.

The Busan Tourism Organization on Thursday released the results of its "Q2 2026 Busan Tourism Industry Business Survey," conducted among 404 local tourism industry officials. The survey found that third-quarter BSI figures surpassed the benchmark of 100 across all categories, with sales at 111.4, profitability at 109.4, domestic tourist arrivals at 103.0 and foreign tourist arrivals at 128.7.

Quarter-on-quarter, all indicators rose — sales (+13.7 points), profitability (+8.4 points), domestic tourist arrivals (+7.9 points) and foreign tourist arrivals (+20.5 points) — clearly reflecting the tourism industry's growing expectations for a recovery. The outlook for foreign tourist arrivals posted the highest figure among all categories, highlighting it as a key driver of the tourism market's rebound.

For the third quarter, 35.4 percent of respondents forecast sales expansion while 24.0 percent expected a slowdown, with the share of negative responses falling 5.2 percentage points from the previous quarter. On profitability, 31.9 percent anticipated improvement against 22.5 percent expecting deterioration, with the pessimistic share down 4.2 percentage points quarter-on-quarter, pointing to better operating conditions ahead. Meanwhile, 34.9 percent of respondents reported a labor shortage — up 4.0 percentage points from the previous quarter — suggesting that staffing difficulties are likely to persist alongside the recovery.

On tourist volume, 31.2 percent of respondents forecast an expansion in domestic tourist arrivals, up 4.2 percentage points from the previous quarter. The share expecting a slowdown in foreign tourist arrivals edged down to 18.3 percent, while both the expansion and slowdown responses for domestic tourists increased simultaneously, reflecting a mix of optimism and uncertainty about the domestic travel market. The results point to cautious sentiment over whether consumer spending at home will recover, even as expectations grow for an increase in foreign visitors in the second half of the year.


kaf2002@heraldcorp.com