Poor communication, pricey stays, scalping draw complaints among global BTS audience
BTS played two sold-out concerts at Busan Asiad Main Stadium on Friday and Saturday, drawing approximately 220,000 fans over two days as part of its ongoing “Arirang” world tour.
While the concerts concluded without major safety incidents, they brought long-standing issues surrounding major K-pop concerts into the fore, including crowd management, accommodation pricing and illegal ticket resales.
The most immediate controversy emerged on opening night, when the concert began approximately 75 minutes late due to delays in audience entry.
According to Hybe, multiple factors contributed to the delay, including confusion surrounding on-site guidance, congestion at fan gift distribution areas and delays in merchandise and package collection.
Fans who attended the concert described long lines and difficulties navigating the venue. Some attendees posted on social media that staff appeared uncertain about directions within the stadium, with no method of communication between them, while others pointed to a lack of multilingual guidance despite a large international audience.
“BTS’ concert consisted of a large number of international concert attendees, but many announcements were made only in Korean,” one attendee wrote online. “Those who spoke Korean had to step in to translate information for overseas visitors.”
The delays in entry occurred despite a safety operation involving 3,000 personnel, including event staff, local government officials, police officers, firefighters and public agency employees.
Beyond venue operations, accommodation-related complaints also resurfaced ahead of the concerts.
According to data from the Korea Tourism Data Lab, Busan accounted for 185 of the 368 tourism-related complaints filed nationwide in May, representing more than half of all such reports. More than 80 percent came from foreign visitors.
Accommodation-related complaints made up the overwhelming majority of the cases, with reports involving unilateral reservation cancellations, excessive cancellation fees and sudden price increases.
A joint survey conducted earlier this year by the Korea Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Consumer Agency found that average accommodation prices near the concert venue during the concert weekend were 2.4 times higher than normal weekend rates, with some properties increasing prices by up to 7.5 times.
The issue was not entirely new. Similar complaints emerged during BTS’ “Yet To Come in Busan” concert in 2022 and have periodically surfaced during other major events held in the city. However, the scale of this year’s complaints renewed calls for stronger consumer protection measures during major tourism events.
Illegal ticket resales also remained a challenge.
Busan police said they detected 10 scalping cases involving 11 individuals during intensive enforcement operations around the stadium. Authorities reported cases in which tickets originally priced at 220,000 won ($145) were resold for as much as 680,000 won.
Police said most transactions involved concert wristbands that were transferred between buyers and sellers after entry credentials had been issued.
“K-pop’s global reputation and a healthy concert culture are harmed by illegal ticket resales,” a Busan Metropolitan Police Agency official said, adding that authorities would continue crackdowns at major concerts and sporting events.
lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com
