Seoul, Busan make Forbes list of '100 best cities to live, work and visit'

Seoul ranked 10th, and Busan secured a spot at 67th. This marks the first time Busan has made it onto the list of the world’s top 100 cities.

Beachgoers enjoy Haeundae Beach in Busan on Saturday. [YONHAP]

Two Korean cities — Seoul and Busan — made U.S. business magazine Forbes's list of “100 best cities to live, work and visit.”

Seoul ranked 10th, and Busan secured a spot at 67th. This marks the first time Busan has made it onto the list of the world’s top 100 cities.

The rankings are based on an annual report published by the global consulting firm Resonance. The report assessed 270 cities worldwide using a grading scheme that considered educational and cultural aspects and each municipality’s “livability, lovability and prosperity.”

The report said that Seoul has “firmly established itself as a global pop culture powerhouse,” noting achievements of K-pop boyband BTS and the movie “Parasite” (2019). It also noted diverse food and eatery options such as Gwangjang Market. The capital earned a prosperity score of 8, a livability score of 26 and a lovability score of 31. It came behind cities like London, Paris, New York and Tokyo.

The report also dubbed the country’s southern port city Busan the “Miami of South Korea.” While mentioning that the city’s beaches captivate residents and global travelers, it also noted shopping places and leisure facilities such as Shinsegae Centum City Busan and Lotte World Adventure Busan. Busan scored 149 for livability, with prosperity and lovability scores of 17 and 140, respectively.

“The city is emerging as a thriving convention center and an emerging ‘bleisure’ destination,” the report said, adding the city’s previous bid to host World Expo 2030. Bleisure is a portmanteau of business and leisure.

According to the Busan Tourism Organization, the number of foreign tourists who visited the city has nearly recovered to 90 percent of pre-Covid-19 levels. Busan is ranked among the two most recent trending global travel destinations on the online travel platform Trip.com, and in June, the New York Times introduced the city as one of five global cities with great beaches.

Busan unveiled its aspiration to entice 3 million overseas travelers to the city by 2026. In a city-level innovation meeting held on Tuesday, Mayor Park Heong-joon said that “the city’s reputation and brand value are rapidly improving.”

“Busan is emerging as a tourist destination that garners attention from people worldwide. With the foreign visitors’ spending surging, now is the golden time to grow and expand the city’s tourism [business],” Park added.

In the meeting, the city announced its focus on creating “high-end” tourism-related content in the form of workcations — a combination of work and vacation — as well as night tours and food tours. The city aims to become one of the global top 10 cities for digital nomads.

It also promised an effort to improve infrastructure to make the city more tourist-friendly, saying its drive to launch exclusive transit passes for foreign visitors and encourage people to use the city’s payment system, dubbed “Busan Pay.”

BY LEE SOO-JUNG, WE SUNG-WOOK [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]