Who Can Busan Make Stay?

Grey (Kim Hyunseung) · May 28, 2026

June 12: From 57,000 Won to 3 Million Won

A studio-type room in Busan's Seomyeon is normally booked for 57,000 won on Fridays. On June 12, it's 3 million won. A 50-fold increase.

This is not an isolated case. When the Busan Ilbo searched for 2-3 star hotels in Busanjin-gu on May 22, the June 12 rate at Seomyeon's Hotel A was 745,000 won—more than 4.5 times the usual price. Hotel B in Yangjeong-dong, which normally charged around 50,000 won on Fridays, jumped to 557,000 won on June 12—nearly a 10-fold increase. An investigation by the Fair Trade Commission and Korea Consumer Agency of 135 accommodations in Busan found that average rates for the concert weekend were 2.4 times those of surrounding weekends, with some establishments raising prices up to 7.5 times. When guests avoided Busan and headed to Gimhae, even Gimhae motels raised their rates from the usual 53,000 won to 392,000 won—a 7-fold increase.

On May 26, BTS members directly addressed the Busan accommodation price surge on Weverse Live right after receiving their American Music Awards. They pointed out that these were the prices being charged to fans coming to see their performance. Around the same time, foreign fans posted on SNS that they wouldn't even buy a bottle of water in Busan.

Within two weeks, this city lost the trust of the people coming to see it.

Nomads Are People Who Test a City's Trust

Mo Jong-rin defines the nomad city in 'Creator Society' along five axes: flexibility, creativity, individualization, compression, and networking. Month-long stays, workcations, N-jobbers, remote workers, side-hustling creators—people who work and live moving between cities without being tied to one place. Cities are now measured not only by who resides there but also by who passes through.

The first criterion by which they evaluate cities is simple: Are prices predictable? Are rules reliable? That's the essence of a month-long stay. It's a bet on a city, and the premise of that bet is that the rules of the game won't suddenly change while you're there.

The BTS incident was precisely the moment that bet broke. A room that was 50,000 won a week ago jumps in price once the concert is announced; rooms booked months in advance are cancelled citing overbooking, then the same rooms are relisted at higher prices. This is not a city with institutions but a city where the market resets with each event. Nomads don't visit such cities. They never come even once.

When the Market Fails, Temples Fill the Gap

Since April 22, Busan city has formed an enforcement team with special judicial police, the Fair Trade Commission, Korea Consumer Agency, and Busan Fire and Disaster Headquarters to inspect the area around Asiad Main Stadium. On May 22, a price stabilization strategy meeting was held at city hall. The conclusion was enforcement, designation of fair-price establishments, and temporary opening of public accommodations.

The problem is the limits of enforcement. The city has no legal authority to adjust accommodation prices, and legislative amendments for enforcement are delayed. If accommodations simply list their inflated rates on their price boards, local governments have no way to impose sanctions. Pricing is autonomous. Busan city itself acknowledges this limitation.

So temples fill the gap. The Korean Buddhist Culture Foundation opened templestay programs at temples in Busan and Gyeongnam as lodging for BTS concert attendees. The thousand-year-old temple Beomeosa is providing free two-person rooms and temple cuisine to 20 foreign tourists from June 11 to 14. Seonamsa accepts 15 people, Hongbeopsa up to 48. All 21 rooms at Naewonjeongsa Templestay are already fully booked. Arpina, operated by Busan Urban Corporation, completed full reservations while maintaining existing rates.

What a city hall department in Fukuoka did 13 years ago, in 2026 Busan temples and public enterprises are temporarily filling. It's a virtue of civil society, but simultaneously a city's immaturity. Without institutions, everything must be decided anew each time. The landscape seen at Q7 over 26 years repeats itself within two weeks of BTS.

But Immaturity Is Room for Builders

Let's pause here. The fact that Busan is a city that doesn't make people stay—does not mean it's a city that cannot make people stay. Quite the opposite.

Physical assets. Busan is compact. From Haeundae to Seomyeon, Seomyeon to Gwangalli, Gwangalli to Yeongdo—all within 30 minutes. Busan is the only metropolitan city in Korea with both ocean and mountains within the same city. Within one city are port industries, film festivals, tourism, financial districts, old downtown, and marine leisure. It's virtually the only metropolitan city in Korea where nomads can live without separating work, life, and hobbies.

Geographic assets. Fukuoka is one hour from Gimhae Airport. Tokyo, Shanghai, and Taipei within two hours. The time zone is the same as Tokyo, and one hour different from Hong Kong and Singapore. For Southeast Asian nomads, Busan is a Korean gateway closer than Seoul. When Gimhae Airport's international flights expand further, all of Southeast Asia becomes a two-hour zone.

Economic assets. Living costs are about 60% of Seoul's. Price points where single-person households can comfortably try living for a month remain viable. The density of coworking spaces, cafes, bars, and galleries is high relative to city size. For foreign nomads who want to try living in Korea but find Seoul too expensive, Busan is virtually the only answer.

The fact that it's not a completed city—that can be the decisive attraction for nomads. Fukuoka is already built. Systems for making people stay have accumulated over 13 years. There's little room to enter and add to it. Busan is different. It's being built now. Those who define the very way of making people stay will determine the city's next form.

Immaturity is not shame but an invitation to builders. The problem is that Busan isn't writing that invitation itself.

Whose City Will the Next Busan Be?

A city that makes people stay is a city people return to.

In Q2, we saw Busan lose 50,000 people in their 20s. They didn't just follow jobs. They followed cities that would make them stay. A city with nomad infrastructure doesn't just make foreign digital nomads stay—it's also a city where departed Korean youth can settle as N-jobbers, creators, and remote workers.

A system for making people stay is not a foreigner policy. It's the city's operating method. Who can come and stay—that answer is the same as the reason current residents won't leave.

After June 14, BTS will leave and foreign fans will leave. Fifty-seven thousand won will be 57,000 won again. The two questions Busan must ask itself then are:

First—will it create a single organization responsible for making people stay? As seen in Q7, Busan has a Maritime Capital Policy Division, but no entity responsible for making people stay. Price stabilization, public accommodation coordination, foreigner settlement support, month-long stay infrastructure—all are scattered across different departments and investment agencies. Will this be bundled into a unified settlement city promotion headquarters and anchored at the ordinance level, unaffected by mayoral changes? Or will it ask temples again for the next major concert?

Second—on the builder side, who will build the first infrastructure? Settlement visa consulting, month-long stay packages, foreigner-only coworking spaces, nomad communities, English city guides—this domain must be created by builders moving before city hall. If Busan is being built now, the builders are the people in Busan now.

Who can Busan make stay? The answer lies with Busan itself—both with city hall and with the person reading this.

Reference: Mo Jong-rin, 'Creator Society', Kimyoungsa, 2024, pp.330–339 ("The Nomad City That Scatters and Connects")