Paradise Hotel Busan said the share of foreign guests rose from around 30 per cent to roughly 70 per cent during the BTS concert dates in June.
The hotel also recorded an occupancy rate of approximately 95 per cent during the same period, up 20 per cent from last year.
But the benefits were not felt evenly.
A market vendor in Busan’s Haeundae district, who has worked there for over 20 years, said she had seen fewer fans than during BTS’ 2022 concerts in the city.
She also questioned whether visitors were staying long enough or spending enough to meaningfully boost local businesses.
For local authorities, the longer-term goal is to turn concert-goers into repeat visitors.
“They may come this time to see the concert, but we hope they will keep coming back,” said Kim Dong-hoon, director of Busan’s Tourism Policy Division.
“Our biggest wish is for Busan to be seen as a city people want to revisit.”
Elsewhere in the city, one ageing neighbourhood is hoping the pull of the Korean wave can help reverse its decline.
Ami-dong, a hillside neighbourhood known as the “gravestone village”, is home to Busan’s first registered cultural heritage site.
