Leveraging City Tour Buses and International Students
LEE YEON SIL Reporter
| 2026-10-04 10:13:26
City tour buses are currently operating in both Seoul and Busan. While they are meant for tourists, there are times when they run completely empty. What if we allowed international students studying in Korea to use these buses for free, even if regular travelers have to pay the fare?
However, there would be a condition: they would need to capture the beauty of South Korea in videos and promote it in their home countries. Seeing city tour buses driving around almost empty—often failing to fill even half of their seats—has often made me think about ways to utilize them more effectively.
Since these buses are already running, why not give international students—who often struggle to travel due to tight budgets where even 10,000 won is a burden—the opportunity to ride them? How about turning these multinational students into Korea's goodwill ambassadors while giving them the chance to experience the city tour buses?
I am curious whether these buses are managed by the Korea Tourism Organization or overseen by the city governments of Seoul and Busan. There are over 200,000 international students in Korea. If we effectively leverage this human resource, South Korea's future will become even brighter.