**[2026 All That Travel]**
– Joint booth with five promising startups at COEX
– Launch of ‘total service’ covering F&B, beauty, and space
– Introduction of experiential marketing like pinball games
– “Will provide a foundation for global scale-up of regional companies”
Busan tourism companies seeking to shift from traditional “sightseeing tourism” to “experiential tourism” are set to make their presence felt in Seoul at COEX. The Busan Tourism Organization’s Tourism Business Support Center plans to operate a joint promotional booth with five innovative regional startups at the upcoming “2026 All That Travel” event on April 30, presenting a blueprint for the future of Korea’s tourism industry.
**Five Promising Busan Startups at the Expo**
The core of the joint booth presented by the Busan Tourism Organization at this expo is ‘convergence.’ According to the Tourism Business Support Center, the organization has carefully selected five promising companies that will drive qualitative growth in regional tourism and will showcase them prominently.
The participating companies are expected to captivate visitors and buyers with their unique content. One such company, ‘Cafe 385,’ aims to highlight the charm of ‘Gourmet City Busan’ through differentiated F&B content like coffee mixes and salt caramel reflecting the local color of Yeongdo. Meanwhile, ‘Moonlighter’ targets the high-value wellness tourism market by combining skin care products with tourism.
From a space branding perspective, ‘Gukjejangyeogwan’ will feature accommodation with a ‘modern era concept’ that goes beyond simple lodging to present the essence of local lifestyle. Additionally, ‘Chorokbaenang’ and ‘Cosmile Corporation’ will showcase the true essence of Busan’s local tourism through specialized local tour products and tourism goods infused with local sentiment.
**Participation-focused Booth Incorporating Gamification**
The Tourism Business Support Center employs ‘gamification’ elements as part of their marketing strategy to maximize visitor interest. The booth’s main event, the “Pinball Game,” combines six themes—emotional healing, night tours, activities, local explorations, gourmet trips, and culture & arts—with pinball machines. By providing optimized travel courses and information for each theme where the ball stops, it aims to entertain visitors while effectively delivering regional tourism data. Various participation-focused programs such as dart events, photo zones, and SNS-linked prize giveaways will also be conducted on site.
Busan Tourism Organization’s participation goes beyond simple brand promotion and focuses on the substantive ‘market development’ for regional companies. The organization plans to launch systematic support measures for its tenant companies, using this expo as a starting point.
This includes joint promotions through cooperation with the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and eight regional Tourism Business Support Centers to overcome the geographical limitations of local startups. Furthermore, they plan to provide opportunities for B2B business proposals with major domestic tourist spots and offer promotional support linked with large-scale events like the Busan One Asia Festival (BOF) or Travel Mart, creating a gateway for global market entry.
**A Fusion of Technology and Locality, Anticipating the Birth of a ‘Tourism Unicorn’**
Industry experts view this All That Travel as a test bed that demonstrates Busan’s tourism industry’s capabilities in ‘digital transformation (DX)’ and ‘local branding.’ There’s anticipation for the synergy that occurs when Busan’s unique, dynamic local content combines with IT technology and marketing strategies.
A representative from the Busan Tourism Organization emphasized, “This expo will serve as a business platform helping innovative tourism startups from Busan build a solid revenue model beyond their initial ‘death valley.’ We will spare no effort in providing marketing, networking, and infrastructure support to establish an ecosystem where a ‘tourism unicorn company’ representing Korea can emerge from Busan.”