Seven Bridge Tour Emerges as New 'Leisure Tourism' Offering in Busan... About 5,000 Participate; No Accidents

[Financial News] Now in its second year, the Seven Bridge Tour is emerging as a new leisure tourism offering in Busan. About 5,000 participants from Korea and abroad took part in the event, held on September 20, and it recorded a 97% completion rate with no safety incidents. The event was also found to have generated added value through visitor stays and spending.
Busan City said on the 13th that it had recently held a performance review meeting for the 2026 Seven Bridge Tour and confirmed meaningful results in a range of areas, including revitalizing sports tourism, attracting more stay-based tourists, generating regional economic impact and enhancing the city’s brand.
The event is a cycling route that connects downtown with Busan’s iconic sea bridges, including Gwangan Bridge. It was so popular that it sold out within two minutes of reservations opening for the second consecutive year, following last year.
This year, about 5,000 participants from Korea and abroad took part, and the event recorded a 97% completion rate and concluded without a single safety incident, demonstrating Busan’s capacity to operate global sports tourism events. It also attracted 212 overseas participants and laid the groundwork for expansion as a global sports tourism product, including by pursuing international exchanges with Japan’s Ehime Prefecture.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization’s Data Lab and a survey, the event was analyzed to have generated about 4.984 billion won in production and about 2.306 billion won in added value, boosting the local economy.
From September 11 to 21, the period before and after the event, sales from tourism spending in Busan totaled 352.9 billion won, up 13.1% from the same period a year earlier. The number of visitors from outside the region also reached about 1.057 million, a September high.
Participants from other regions, who made up 70% of all participants, spent an average of about 440,000 won per person, up 12.9% from the same period a year earlier. In particular, as of September, both the number of overnight visitors from outside the region and the proportion of visits involving stays of two nights or more (3.9%) increased, clearly demonstrating the effect of attracting stay-based tourists.
Mayor Chun Jae-soo said, "This event allowed us to confirm the significant impact sports tourism has on the local economy," adding, "Going forward, we will develop Busan into 'a city where people travel while enjoying sports all year round' and create a sustainable engine for growth."
[email protected] Byun Ok-hwan Reporter