Seoul International Garden Expo Attracts 5 Million Visitors in 72 Days

[Financial News] More than 5 million people have visited the '2025 Seoul International Garden Expo', which has been open for 70 days. This is a faster record than last year, marking the shortest time since the expo's inception.
Seoul City announced on the 3rd that the Seoul International Garden Expo, held at Boramae Park in Dongjak-gu since May 22, recorded a cumulative attendance of 5,013,900 as of the 1st, the 72nd day since opening.
Compared to the same period last year when the International Garden Expo was not held, the number of visitors to Boramae Park increased by about 2.3 times, leading to a revitalization of the surrounding commercial areas.
Seoul City, by lifting regulations and allowing limited commercial activities within the park, saw food trucks and sales booths within the expo site achieve sales of 1.75 billion won over the first 40 days post-opening. Comparing credit card (based on Shinhan Card) usage in the nearby area during the first week after the expo's opening to the previous week, the transaction amount increased by an average of 20%, the number of transactions by 17%, and the average daily resident population by about 40%.
Despite the rainy season and heatwaves in July, the expo maintained an average daily visitor count of over 40,000. To ensure the safety of citizens, the city adjusted event hours to 2 PM to 9 PM and operated heat shelters, cooling fog, and water facilities throughout the park to help visitors enjoy the expo while escaping the heat.
The city cited the high accessibility of Boramae Park, a representative urban living area park, and the more diverse and high-quality attractions and activities as the reasons for the success of this year's Seoul International Garden Expo. Currently, 111 unique gardens are being created and operated in Boramae Park. Garden experience programs for foreigners have attracted tourists from various countries, including the United States, Japan, France, Poland, and India, and are being used as tour courses for international conference attendees, such as the World Botanic Gardens Education Congress. Benchmarking visits from national and international related organizations are also continuing.
Meanwhile, the Seoul International Garden Expo will continue until October 20. The 'Boramae Garden Wedding', a wedding event set against the backdrop of gardens, will be held four times in September and October. Seoul City plans to conduct a story contest targeting prospective couples residing or living in Seoul for this new nature-friendly small wedding initiative.
Seoul City plans to expand the Seoul International Garden Expo next year. The expo is scheduled to be held from May 1 to October 27 for a total of 180 days, significantly increasing its scale around Seoul Forest, Seongsu-dong, and Maehyeon Citizen's Forest (in October).
Lee Soo-yeon, Director of the Seoul City Garden City Bureau, said, “Following last year’s ‘Ttukseom Grand Garden’, this year’s ‘Boramae Citizen Grand Garden’ has allowed citizens to feel how much joy and comfort gardens can bring to their daily lives.” She added, “Next year, we will create the ‘Seoul Forest Grand Garden’ to establish a world-class representative hub of ‘Garden City Seoul’.”

ronia@fnnews.com Reporter Lee Seol-young