After three years and nine months, BTS have returned as a complete group and announced plans for a world tour, immediately energizing the retail and tourism industries. As soon as the world tour schedule—including stops in Goyang (Gyeonggi Province) and Busan—was released, hotels were immediately fully booked, igniting a so-called "BTS Special Demand"

According to retail industry sources on the 16th, most hotels and accommodations near the Goyang Stadium are already sold out for the period around April 9th to 12th. Previously, on the 14th, Big Hit Music announced that BTS would kick off their new world tour at Goyang Stadium on April 9th, 11th, and 12th. An official from SonoCalm Goyang stated, "Room reservations from April 9th to 12th are already completely full. We understand that neighboring accommodations are in the same situation."

The situation in Busan—where BTS are scheduled to hold concerts over two days around June 13, the group’s debut anniversary—has been no different. Even though the exact venue has yet to be announced, accommodation availability across Busan for that period was quickly depleted as soon as the tour dates were made public. In major tourist areas such as Haeundae, most rooms available for online booking sold out within just four to five hours.

More concerning than the sellouts themselves, however, has been the growing backlash from both domestic and international fans over the sudden and steep surge in hotel prices in these areas. One four-star chain hotel in Haeundae reportedly saw room rates jump from the usual 300,000 won to over 650,000 won during the concert dates.

Some booking platforms listed Deluxe Double rooms at a luxury hotel in Busan for as high as 785,000 won on concert days—significantly higher than the 298,000 won rate from the previous week and the 390,000 won rate for the following week.

But that was not even the most ѕнσ¢кing case. One netizen shared a screenshot from a Busan hotel booking site showing that a room normally priced at 99,000 won had skyrocketed to an astonishing 1,489,000 won on the concert date—more than 15 times its usual price.

As if the price hikes were not enough, fans have also voiced outrage over reports that some hotels asked existing guests to cancel previously confirmed reservations, citing the following message: “With the release of BTS’s Busan concert dates, we’ve received tons of reservations at the same time. Because we received more reservations than rooms, there are none available. We apologize, but could you please cancel your reservation? We apologize once again.”

As the situation escalated and public anger spread rapidly across social media, South кσяєαn President Lee Jae Myung issued an official statement via his X (formerly Twitter) account, declaring: “Malicious practices that disrupt market order and cause serious harm to everyone must be eradicated. The losses must far outweigh any unfairly gained profits,” while quoting a Naver News article titled, “Prices Soar Tenfold at the News of BTS’s Arrival… Busan Accommodation Fees Spark ‘Price-Gouging’ Controversy Again.”

President Lee’s response was immediately met with strong public support, as many expressed hope that authorities would take the issue of price gouging in the accommodation sector seriously. When a global cultural event such as a BTS concert is exploited as an opportunity for unfair profiteering, it not only causes economic harm to fans but also tarnishes кσяєα’s reputation for hospitality and damages the credibility of its tourism industry.

Following the president’s statement, fans shared a wave of reactions online, including:

- ARMY are booking outside of busan, as a fandom we are tired of the city of busan taking advantage of bts that have 2 members from Busan and ARMY that has always been respectful. Please do soмєтнing to stop this rip-off culture before it will ruin Busan and South кσяєα reputation

- International BTS ARMYs will visit Busan from all over the world in June 2026. South кσяєα needs to demonstrate that international fans, who are also tourists, can trust the tourism sector to avoid scams and dishonesty.

- Dear Mr President , thank you your concern. We hope the Busan Hotel pricing can be reasonable.

- Mr. President thank you for bringing this issue to your attention and I hope you can solve it.This isn't the first time that the Busan gov has used us and BTS and we thought that no one would help us I am pleasantly surprised that you are interfering in this!Thank you, thank you!

- From the Busan concert back then to this one, Busan has really gone too far. What’s the point of booking accommodation if they just raise the prices several times over and then cancel the reservations?

- A lot of people faced cancellations and were asked to cancel there bookings....now same places have put up rooms at extremely high price. Please prevent such exploitation from happening

- Not THE president of South кσяєα stepping in to address the outrageous accommodation prices in ahead of BTS's concert. Oh Bangtan