Busan mayor says Festival Shiwol proves capacity to be global hub city

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon says the Festival Shiwol mega-event will propel efforts to become a "global hub city" that can ultimately help solve Korea's crises.

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon speaks during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily. [PARK SANG-MOON]

BUSAN — Busan doesn't see its thwarted bid to host the World Expo 2030 as a failure but considers it an opportunity, said the port city's mayor.

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon underscored that the city earned a chance to advance its profile as a “global hub city” during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily on Thursday, despite losing out to Saudi Arabia's Riyadh in last year's bid to hold the World Expo.

In turn, he noted that Busan’s international index score and reputation showed visible advancements, proving its readiness to become a global hub city. This year, Busan secured a spot on a global consulting firm Resonance Consultancy's list of “100 best cities to live, work and visit,” marking its first entry in history. The city also ranked 25th in the Global Financial Centres Index, jumping from 51st in 2020, according to British business consulting firm Z/Yen.

During the interview with the paper's executive editor, Choi Ji-young, Park said that Busan's rebirth as a global hub city could “solve the country’s chronic problems of a low birthrate and stagnant economic growth by primarily tackling regional disparities.” Park also pointed out that the current Seoul-centric structure marginalizes outlying regions by directing all human and capital resources to the greater Seoul area.

“The fundamental problem lies in the fact that the young generation in the metropolitan region are unhappy and giving up on marriage and childbirth due to hyper-stress coming from a competitive lifestyle,” Park said.

The mayor believes Busan can become an alternative to the greater Seoul area. The port city can be defined as a city that makes "living worthwhile" among young generations. It will then lead to a positive change in their mindsets — giving them opportunities to reflect on the values of families and their lives.

In an effort to dismantle the country’s unipolarity and to rizz up the city’s charm domestically and internationally, Busan will hold the Festival Shiwol — a combination of 17 separate events held for eight days from Oct. 1 through Oct. 8.

The following are excerpts from the interview, edited for clarity and length.

Q. Festival Shiwol means "festival in October" in the Korean language. Why did the city decide to use the Korean word for October in the event's name?

A. It is a deliberate and strategic branding effort to convey an autumnal sentiment and vibes to people vividly. I think hangul — the Korean alphabet — has phenomenal competency along with K-pop and Korean culture in raising the country’s global profile. The Korean word shiwol, which means October, can deliver the essence of the city and the festival.

October is known to be peak festival season among Korean municipalities as well as for globally renowned cities. How will Busan’s Festival Shiwol differentiate itself from other concurrent festivals worldwide?

The city envisions a synergy where events, which used to be separate, come together and offer multifaceted experiences to participants through Festival Shiwol. So it will serve as more than simple entertainment. It links business opportunities, tour sites, food and entertainment features, allowing visitors to gain deeper insights into business and industry while enjoying the city’s delicacies and natural scenery.

Specifically, Festival Shiwol embraces the city’s diverse events, such as the Busan International Film Festival and Busan International Rock Festival, which have proven successful. Also, this year’s FLY ASIA 2024, an annual conference for startups that is one of the 17 events under Festival Shiwol, saw growth in investment volume and the number of [registered] participants.

With Festival Shiwol, each distinct event is aligned under a united theme and is anticipated to create a greater synergy than any other overseas or domestic festival.

How did the city come up with the idea of grouping separate events together?

The strategy of grouping them into a single festival is also aligned with the city’s pursuit of becoming a city of festivals and a power player of the MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions) industry.

It also makes the festival more inclusive and extensive, effectively satisfying people’s desires, which range from food cravings to learning experiences and business opportunities.

Adding on to that, I think bringing different events together is a global trend. For example, although the Edinburgh International Festival is known to be a music festival, other events — such as light installations and street parades — take place during the festivities. The U.S. art festival South by Southwest Conference and Festivals also incorporates artistic and technological exhibitions.

Is there any concern about potential fluctuations in tourism demand when the city’s events are mostly scheduled in a certain period? What if the city attracts fewer tourists in other months compared to previous years?

I believe the festival will neither compromise nor negatively affect the total number of annual visitors. Those who intended to participate in each separate event will come anyway.

With Festival Shiwol, participants can partake in other series of events they originally did not anticipate to. In this way, each event can be revived by expanding the pool of visitors reciprocally.

Other events and festivities will happen to entertain visitors throughout the year. It does not necessarily mean that Busan will not have any other events in months other than October. At this time, the city government only grouped events that correspond to the concept of Festival Shiwol.

Busan has laid out and executed a wide range of strategies to attract foreign visitors. How can Festival Shiwol contribute to raising the city’s profile worldwide?

The city has seen a huge jump in the number of annual foreign visitors recently, with an expectation of surpassing the 3 million threshold this year. However, the city will never be complacent about its achievements. It will continuously strive to attract more and more visitors.

Starting with developing the globally recognized Busan International Film Festival as [a source of] the city’s original killer content, the promotional strategy to attract international tourists to Festival Shiwol centers on highlighting its inclusivity — where foreign visitors can participate in the film festival, and enjoy K-pop and the city’s beautiful nature and landscapes all at once. Also, hosting a grand festival at this time of the year is an effort to entice them in autumn — when the number of foreign tourists drops compared to the summer season.

Regardless of the bitter results of the bid for the 2030 World Expo, what direction is the city of Busan heading?

The expo bid was never the ultimate goal. The city office considered the expo as a means to make the Busan a global hub city.

Becoming a global hub city has always been the most grand and pivotal objective. As it can serve as a key to tackling regional disparities, the city’s drive is a mission shared among the country’s southern regions.

The city’s efforts to become a global hub city have consistently continued before and after the expo bid, with no changes. The bid, indeed, provided an occasion where the nation realized the necessity of transforming Busan into a global hub city.

A bill granting special authority to Busan to develop into a global hub city is under parliamentary review. And there is no stark partisanship between rival liberal and conservative parties [on the issue]. The city expects to receive parliamentary approval within this year. The discussion with the government has already been finalized.

Once the city revamps into a free economic zone and a city of culture with profound tourism features, it will attract people, businesses and resources. We saw such a possibility throughout the expo bid.

Now is a crucial opportunity to transform the city into a global hub. A number of companies have been relocating to Busan, and the number of tourists also is also on the rise.

When the bill is passed, what kind of benefits will the city and the country as whole enjoy?

First of all, the investment environment will be improved. The bill centers on the city’s logistic and financial functions and emerging industries.

Also, education, which is the foundation for all kinds of industries, is another critical pillar of the bill. It will permit the establishment of international schools where Korean nationals are eligible to enroll and autonomous high schools that provide quality education.

In the longer run, it will help fix the country’s regional disparities, a root cause of major societal problems. The greater Seoul area saw an expansion of its population — mostly driven by youth who left their provincial hometowns. However, the greater Seoul area’s hypercompetitive environment has resulted in psychological stress, dissuading them from marriage and childbirth. This widely spread sentiment among young people has plagued the country.

The young generations' burden can be relieved when the country has several options other than Seoul. Then, they can re-envision a brighter and new future in a more breathable setting.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]