Beachgoers crowd Haeundae Beach in Busan on Sept. 14 as unusually hot weather continues into mid-September.YONHAP
Haeundae Beach in Busan drew more than 10 million visitors during this year’s summer season — the first beach in Korea to surpass the annual milestone.
More than 10 million people visited the beach between its opening on June 26 and its closing on Tuesday, according to Haeundae District on Wednesday.
The cumulative number of visitors had reached about 10.15 million as of Monday. It is the first time the beach has surpassed 10 million visitors since authorities began counting visitors using mobile phone base station data in 2020.
About 9.12 million people had visited Haeundae Beach as of Sept. 1. Unlike Busan’s six other beaches, which ended their official swimming seasons on Aug. 31, Haeundae's season continued through Tuesday, which raised hopes among district officials that it could reach the 10 million mark. More than 1 million additional visitors came during the first half of September.
“A prolonged heat wave, fewer rainy days and an increase in foreign tourists drove visitor numbers past 10 million this summer,” a Haeundae District official said. “In particular, although other beaches already had their official swimming seasons, the continued hot weather appears to have drawn people seeking one last summer getaway to Haeundae Beach, which was still open.”
Busan welcomed 2,927,674 foreign tourists from January through July this year, the city government said. The city projects the figure will surpass 4 million by the end of the year.
Beachgoers relax under parasols at Haeundae Beach in Busan on Sept. 14 as unusually hot weather continues into mid-September.YONHAP
Haeundae’s surge past 10 million visitors also helped push the combined number of visitors to Busan’s beaches above 20 million for the second consecutive year. The city’s seven beaches, including Haeundae, had drawn about 21.46 million visitors as of Aug. 30.
After Haeundae, Gwangalli Beach attracted the most visitors as of Aug. 31, at 4.6 million, followed by Songdo Beach with 3.2 million, Dadaepo Beach with 2.22 million and Songjeong Beach with 1.65 million. Ilgwang and Imnang beaches drew a combined 80,000 visitors.
Authorities use different methods to estimate attendance at the beaches. Larger beaches such as Haeundae and Gwangalli use mobile phone data to calculate visitor numbers, while smaller beaches use methods including Fermi estimation, which estimates attendance based on the number of people per unit of area.
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.
