Busan beaches top 21 million visitors as summer draws to a close
Busan's seven public beaches saw 21.46 million visitors this summer, as Haeundae, which remains open through Sept. 15, nearing the 10 million mark.
Beachgoers enjoy the waves at Songjeong Beach in Haeundae District, Busan, on Aug. 31, the beach's final day before closing for the season
YONHAP
Beaches across Busan drew more than 20 million visitors this summer for the second consecutive year, city data showed Friday, with Haeundae Beach — still open through Sept. 15 — on pace to potentially hit 10 million visitors on its own.
The city's seven public beaches drew a combined 21.46 million visitors this summer through last Saturday, according to the Busan city government and Haeundae district office. Haeundae and Songjeong beaches opened June 26, while Gwangalli, Songdo, Dadaepo, Imnang and Ilgwang beaches opened Aug. 1. Last year, the same seven beaches drew about 20.87 million visitors, a slight decrease from this year.
Excluding Haeundae, Gwangalli drew the most visitors as of Sunday, with 4.6 million, followed by Songdo with 3.2 million, Dadaepo with 2.22 million, Songjeong with 1.65 million and Ilgwang and Imnang with 80,000.
Haeundae Beach alone had drawn about 9.12 million visitors as of Tuesday. Unlike the other beaches, which closed for the season on Sunday, Haeundae remains open through Sept. 15, leading Haeundae District officials to say they expect the beach could still reach 10 million visitors.
Visitor counts are calculated using different methods depending on the beach, per the city office. Larger beaches like Haeundae and Gwangalli rely on cell phone base station data, while smaller beaches use a Fermi estimation method that multiplies visitor density by area, meaning actual visitor numbers may differ somewhat from the reported figures, according to the city.
"For Haeundae Beach, we calculate visitor numbers using big data, based on people who stay at the beach or nearby hotels for more than 30 minutes, excluding duplicate counts," a Haeundae District official said. "With the heat continuing this year and other beaches in Busan already closed, we're hopeful Haeundae could reach 10 million visitors."
BY WE SUNG-WOOK [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
