By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
The port city of Busan has received an unexpected and lucrative boost to its business this year: a mega-hit blockbuster movie featuring the city and named after its famous Haeundae beach.
With
"Haeundae" taking the box office by surprise, the number of visitors to Korea's second-largest city has steeply risen, helping local businesses, especially retailers.
The disaster movie, which was filmed entirely in the city by Busan-born director
Yoon Je-kyoon, has attracted more than 7 million viewers since its release on July 23. It portrays a fictional tsunami that hits the beach.
Located near Haeundae beach, Shinsegae Centum City, the world's largest department store, said Monday its sales amounted to 16 billion won ($13.1 million) for the last 10 days starting July 27, with visitors tallied at 760,000.
This is a 1.7-fold jump in the number of customers. It's an exceptional success, according to Shinsegae, because July is traditionally a slow season for department stores.
In a notable sign highlighting the movie's success, shoppers from outside Busan accounted for 45 percent of its overall customers, up 15 percentage points.
A growing number of foreign shoppers are visiting thanks to the aggressive marketing targeting Asian countries, a spokesman of the store said. In the 10-day period, the ratio of customers from overseas increased from 10 percent to 13 percent.
In addition, unusually chilly weather is helping Busan.
Other major retailers in the city are enjoying booming sales as well.
Lotte Department Store's Haeundae branch, standing next to its archrival Centum City, also posted a 12-precent rise from July 27 to Aug. 6. Sales of Homeplus' Haeundae outlet this month were up from last month by 11.3 percent.
Busan stores are well ahead of the franchises' other provincial operations in sales. The 11 branches of Lotte Department Store outside Seoul posted an 8-percent growth in the same period, while other provincial Homeplus discount stores rose 0.7 percent in sales.
"Sales this summer well outshine the traditional tendency as a slack season", said Park Gun-hyun, director of Shinsegae Centum City store. "If this continues, sales are expected to hit an August record in department stores in Busan".
