Lotte World Busan is celebrating its first anniversary with a significant visitor milestone. The park welcomed 1.4 million visitors during its very first year of operation, marking a huge win for both Lotte and the Osiria Tourism Complex in Busan, South Korea.
Designed by Legacy Entertainment, the intimate regional park, and second theme park to sport the Lotte World brand, has been enthusiastically received since its debut on March 31, 2022, and has significantly exceeded initial attendance projections.
“The entire Legacy team is thrilled for the success of our friends and partners at Lotte World,” said Yaeli Chung, Legacy’s managing director of South Korea. “Outside of Disney and Universal, many new theme parks which have opened in the last decade have struggled to find their footing initially, so this makes such a healthy debut year such welcome news.”
The attendance figure is particularly noteworthy since the park relied heavily on local markets from which to draw visitors given that China, Busan’s primary source of international tourism, did not allow for international visitors to the country until just recently. In fact, Lotte World Busan’s first-anniversary attendance figure equates to the park having hosted 1 out of every 3 residents in Busan.
According to Lotte officials, the future looks bright for the park’s second season and beyond. In recent years, as many as 3 out of 5 international tourists to South Korea hailed from China, with per capita spending north of $3,000 per visitor. The return of this lucrative travel sector will be key to the continued success of the Lotte World theme park, and the entire Osiria Tourism Complex, allowing them to reach their full potential. The first few months of 2023 saw the easing of the country’s remaining Covid restrictions for international travelers, and all signs bode well for a dramatic recovery of the region’s tourism sector.
Coinciding with the park’s one-year anniversary celebration is a new feature called “Spring in the Fairy Tale Kingdom”- a seasonal festival featuring special photo opportunities, live performances, new menu items, and limited time retail offerings. Longer term, Lotte officials have indicated that expansions to the park are currently in the planning stages, as they hope to keep pace with the above-expected steady attendance.
