The Busan Tourism Organization (BTO) has once again demonstrated the allure of Busan as an attractive MICE destination by securing both the hosting rights of the Asia Pacific Tourism Association (APTA) Annual Conference 2025 and the World Statistics Congress (WSC) 2027 for the city. The APTA is an international academic society that includes some 450 tourism experts and professionals from 25 countries in the Asia-Pacific, including Korea, the US, China, and Canada. Busan was selected as host for the 2025 event during the 2023 conference held last month. Busan is also set to host the WSC 2027, a prestigious honor previously enjoyed by Seoul in 2001. For the success of all the future MICE events that will take place in Busan, the BTO is working to provide ever an improving MICE infrastructure and a wide range of offerings.

BTO CVB Attracts Two Major International MICE Events to Busan
The APTA Annual Conference is an important academic conference in the field of tourism held in the Asia-Pacific each year, bringing over 300 tourism experts and professionals from 25 countries together in one place to take part in discussions on international cooperation and advances in the tourism sector. APTA representatives attended a presentation given by the Busan Tourism Organization in the Haeundae International Conference Complex in February this year, after which the two parties maintained communication on Busan’s bid to host the APTA Annual Conference 2025. At the APTA Annual Conference 2023 held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on July 6, the BTO ran a promotional booth with its head marketer, who spent one-on-one time with the APTA board members to convince them of Busan's merit as the host city. It was during the conference that the final decision for Busan to host the event was reached. The APTA Annual Conference 2025 will mark the 30th anniversary of this event. When it is held in Busan, it will make the Korean city a center of attention for the global tourism and MICE industries.

Another achievement for Busan is its selection as host of the WSC 2027. The WSC is the “Olympics” of statistics professionals, where statisticians and experts for governments, international organizations, and companies from all over the world gather for exchanges on developments related to the field of statistics. The International Statistical Institute, as the organizer of the event, sent out a delegation of auditors to Busan in May to gauge the MICE infrastructure in Busan. The impressions of the audit team were what led to Busan’s selection as the host city. The auditors were unanimous in their approval of Busan, which the world will look upon with favor when considering host city candidates for future MICE events. Representatives of Busan then attended the WSC 2023 in Ottawa, Canada, in July and spent time with key officials responsible for organizing the event, sharing all the advantages Busan will offer as the host city for the WSC 2027.

A Global MICE Center
For Busan, the summer of 2023 was a fruitful one, with two major global MICE events being secured to its shores. The city has gained critical momentum in its propulsion to be a global MICE center. The Busan Convention Bureau will also be busy in the second half of this year, attending MICE events like ITB-Asia Singapore, IBTM World 2023 - Barcelona, and KME 2023 Incheon in its continued efforts to promote Busan as a MICE city to the world.