BUSAN — A large-scale integrated festival that bundles Busan's signature October music, film, arts and business events under a single brand will run across the city for a full month.
Busan Metropolitan City and the Busan Tourism Organization said on the 30th that they will hold "2026 Festival Siwol" (Siwol is Korean for "October") from Oct. 1 to Oct. 31. Launched in 2024, Festival Siwol is an integrated festival that ties together major Busan events concentrated in October — music and culture, film and arts, and business — under one brand.
This year, 22 events will take part under the slogan "In October, Go to Busan," including the Busan International Rock Festival, the Busan International Film Festival and the Asia Startup Expo (FLY ASIA). By category, there are nine music and culture events, six film and arts events, and seven business and innovation events.
The organizers also reworked how the festival runs to encourage longer stays. The program period was extended from 13 days last year to the entire month of October, and the participating events were reorganized from 26 across 10 categories into 22 across three. Rather than adding more events, the change simplifies visitor routes so tourists can easily identify the fields and dates that interest them and combine several events in one trip.
On-site programs designed to draw actual visits have also been strengthened. An integrated promotion hub will be set up at the Busan Eurasia Platform on the plaza in front of Busan Station from the 1st to the 18th. It will operate an information desk providing details on the schedules, locations and participation methods for all 22 events, along with a Busan zone, film, music and food zones, a beauty zone and a 360-degree camera photo zone.
A stamp tour will also encourage movement between events. Visitors can pick up a stamp card and welcome goods at the promotion hub, then visit two of 10 designated events — including the Busan International Rock Festival and the Busan Biennale — and scan QR codes to complete a total of three stamps. Those who finish will receive additional goods and a chance to enter a prize drawing.
Online promotion will center on dedicated pages in five languages on Visit Busan, the city's tourism portal, and extend to social media at home and abroad as well as major online travel agencies. Alongside advertising across more than 30 outlets including Seoul Station, KTX trains and Gimhae International Airport, a pre-event promotion site will operate in Seoul's Insa-dong from Sept. 28 to Oct. 5.
The city and the organization expect that if a structure takes hold in which attendees of one festival move on to other events, it will capitalize on the seasonality of October tourism in Busan while lifting related spending on lodging, dining and shopping.
Detailed schedules and participation methods are available on the Festival Siwol page of the Visit Busan website. "This year's Festival Siwol focused on strengthening the links between events and raising visitor participation and length of stay, rather than increasing the number of events," an official at the organization said. "We will do our best to help visitors stay longer and contribute to revitalizing the local economy."
