‘Busan HAEVENUE’, the best MICE destination in the post-pandemic era

One of the world-renown convention cities, Busan where the daily life of citizens harmonize with five-star luxury beach hotels, exhibition and convention infrastructure, and commercial facilities for recreation and leisure, is busy leaping toward the ‘Global Top 10 MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, & exhibitions) City’ in a post-pandemic era.

Busan successfully hosted APEC South Korea 2005, 2012 Lions Clubs International Convention, 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit with high evaluations by participants. The city has great potential for connections among international conferences, marine leisure, show business, tourism and shopping, and its riffle effect.

In particular, ‘HAEVENUE’ (Haeundae International Conference Complex) with potential for MICE business in Busan, will grow into the ‘optimal MICE destination’ in the post-Covid world. HAEVENUE is an area designated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in March 2020 with a size of 2,390,000㎡ including BEXCO in the Centum City business district, Nurimaru APEC House, and deluxe hotels in Haeundae. A huge amount of exclusive investment will be into MICE infrastructure over the next four years. Moreover, Busan was selected as the ‘first Korean international tourism city’, with a special budget of 150 billion South Korean Won for tourism infrastructure. An official from Busan Tourism Organization (BTO) said that Busan will take a lead in the global MICE industry in the era of post-Covid, focusing on tourism and MICE.

As the world entered the third year of the Covid pandemic, the global MICE industry has witnessed the rapid development of conference technologies encompassing hybrid manners (online and offline), VR meetings, holograms, and the metaverse, while seeing the hosts raising the bar. In addition, the city eligible for the ‘perfect MICE attraction’ is not only based on infrastructure, but also on the competence of the local community.

The MICE special zone, ‘HAEVENUE’ from the Centum City to Nurimaru APEC House to Haeundae area is the only international conference complex in Korea for bleisure travel where business and leisure can be enjoyed at the same time. BEXCO (Busan Exhibition & Convention Center), accommodations (Paradise Hotel, Park Hyatt, Westin Josun Busan, Grand Josun), theatres (Busan Cinema Center), and unique venues (Nurimaru APEC House and Museum DAH) are closely located in this area.

Busan is the one and only city with the beach centred by convention centres and luxury hotels, among the five MICE cities chosen as global convention complexes such as Busan, Goyang, Gwangju, Daegu, and Incheon. All of MICE facilities for conventions, exhibitions, shopping, shows, tours, and team building are accessible in 20-30 minutes walk or 10 minutes drive, regardless of event size. Furthermore, as the BEXCO Exhibition Center III and other new places will open gradually in 2023, the potential and expandability of HAEVENUE are expected together with profitability.

As aforementioned, HAEVENUE has run various projects. First, the unique brand of HAEVENUE was developed to promote Busan as an attractive convention city. Busan Tourism Organization hosted HAEVENUE WEEK while organizing the social media hashtag campaigns, and invited global conference leaders to the Haeundae Conference Complex Roadshow. Moreover, the specialized business program for HAEVENUE supported the global conferences taking place in the unique venues with the charm of Busan, based on the complex.

“HAEVENUE is a place that has convenience, safety, accessibility, and the unique MICE infrastructure only provided in Busan,” said the official from BTO. “Busan is the optimal MICE destination with affluent resources of MICE industry, boasting quarantine, safety and security levels. We ask for your interest in Busan that will become a paradise of MICE industry leading the post-pandemic era.”