BUSAN — Busan is moving to build a sports ecosystem that spans everyday participation, athlete development, hosting international competitions and growing the sports industry. The city aims to raise not only participation rates in community sports but also the international competitiveness of elite athletics, access to facilities and the economic impact on the region, establishing Busan as a hub city for sports.
The city said on the 12th that it has set "Sports for Everyone, Busan as a Sports Hub City" as its vision and will begin implementing three policy directions and five strategies over the five years from 2027 to 2031.
The three broad policy directions are making Busan a mecca for community sports, a hub for elite athletics, and a city with sports facilities close to daily life. The plan focuses on creating an environment where residents can enjoy sports throughout their lives, strengthening a competitive foundation for elite athletics, and expanding facilities within walking distance of homes.
The five strategies are: one sport per person as part of daily life, world-class elite sports, sports rights for all, community-based sports infrastructure, and a sports industry that energizes the region. The city plans to break these down into 12 core tasks to maximize implementation.
In community sports, the city will promote the "one sport per person" initiative so residents can sustain regular exercise. It will also run a Busan-specific campaign called the "30x30 Project," which encourages 30 minutes of exercise a day for 30 days through workplace and neighborhood programs and participation challenges. The city plans to develop everyday sports programs with distinctly local character to boost participation.
In elite athletics, the city will build a development ladder running from identifying promising young athletes to supporting adult competitors, and strengthen its capacity to attract and host international sports events. It will also upgrade sports science support and anti-doping systems to improve athlete competitiveness. The core idea is to link community and elite sports rather than treat them separately, so that public participation feeds athlete development and international competitions raise the city's overall sports capacity.
The city will also pursue policies to improve access to sports activities. It aims to create an inclusive environment where all generations and income groups can exercise together, and to become a barrier-free sports city that people with disabilities can use without restriction. Alongside expanding dedicated venues for individual sports, the city plans to add neighborhood facilities to shorten the distance between homes and venues.
The plan also includes strategies connecting sports to the local economy. The city will develop a sports tourism industry tailored to Busan and build related industrial capacity in connection with an anti-doping research center. The aim is to extend sports beyond a public service for improving residents' health into tourism and industry that can energize the regional economy.
The city also set out key targets to reach by 2030. Participation in community sports among Busan residents is to rise to 75% from 70.6% in 2025, and the number of international and domestic sports competitions held in the city is to increase to 50 from 32. Community sports infrastructure is to grow to 60 venues from 38.
"Exercising and working up a sweat is the most basic right every resident should enjoy, and it is core welfare that determines quality of life," Mayor Jeon Jae-soo said. "My administration will be a firm support so that residents' healthy passion and athletes' hard-earned sweat can shine in the best sports environment in Korea."
The city will hold a special lecture on the sports policy vision for the mayor's current term in the main auditorium at city hall on the afternoon of the 12th, with about 500 people including sports officials and residents attending, to share the policy directions and strategies.