Without spending a won on promotion, a single shark turned Busan's North Port into a must-see destination. About 30,000 people flocked there over three days, and convenience store sales of portable chargers jumped more than 800%.
According to the Busan city government on the 21st, roughly 30,000 people visited the waterway at the North Port waterfront park in Busan's Dong-gu district over the three days since a 3.5-meter shark was first spotted there on the 18th. As word of the sighting spread rapidly on social media, the park's 462-space lot filled with visitors' cars and nearby roads were severely congested. One social media post described leaving Gyeonggi Province at 4 a.m. for a day trip to Busan, and a man in his 70s who came from Daegu by KTX with his granddaughter also turned up at the site.
Photos circulated of a child carrying a stuffed shark and of visitors waiting for the shark while eating "Jaws Bar" ice cream. The National Institute of Fisheries Science estimated the animal to be a tawny nurse shark, a species that lives mainly in temperate and tropical waters. Online, people joked that the site was a "Busan Shark Expo," and some videos drew more than 8 million views.
The most dramatic beneficiaries were nearby businesses. According to CU, total sales at convenience stores near the waterfront park rose 48.6% on the 19th and 20th, the two days after the shark was first seen on the 18th, compared with the previous week. By product, sales of portable chargers surged 815.5% as crowds gathered to photograph the shark.
Ready-to-eat items such as sweet-and-spicy fried chicken and roasted sweet potatoes rose 166.2%, while toys including Pokemon cards were up 422.7%. Bottled water (55.0%), iced drinks (40.1%), beer (34.0%) and triangle kimbap (32.3%) all climbed as well.
Nearby cafes also enjoyed a windfall. With crowds so heavy that drink orders took more than 40 minutes to fill, the owner of one shop posted an apology online to waiting customers, writing that "I brought in my staff and even my wife, but it wasn't enough." Responding to comments that the shark had made the business a hit, the owner drew laughs by writing, "I'd like to buy the shark a few boxes of mackerel" and "Thanks, shark." Over the weekend, food trucks set up at the site to serve the sightseers.
As the crowds swelled, safety measures were tightened. The city sent out safety alerts, and the Busan Facilities Corporation deployed safety staff and limited time inside the viewing area to 30 minutes. The Coast Guard initially tried to steer the shark toward open water, but later shifted to monitoring it and letting it swim out to sea on its own, following advice from the National Institute of Fisheries Science that forcing it out could provoke aggressive behavior.
