Korea: Foreign tourists seeking K-content experiences boost consumption

Foreign tourists wearing traditional Korean hanbok take pictures near Gyeongbok Palace in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, March 31. (Source: Korea Times)

Vitalia Thompson, 25, from Jamaica said she liked dressing up in the Korean traditional dress known as hanbok and was excited to post pictures with her friends taken during a tour of Gyeongbok Palace in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

“I really wanted to come to Korea and try the dress. I like it. It’s very pretty. The pictures I took are going up on my social media accounts," she said. "These will be something I will look back on and feel happy about."

She has long been a fan of BTS and BLACKPINK, two of Korea’s most popular K-pop groups.

What captivated her even more was the song “Golden,” performed by artists Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami as the fictional K-pop girl group Huntrix in the 2025 animated musical film “Kpop Demon Hunters.” After the song’s release in June, it has drawn popularity on social media as a singing challenge.

“I listened to that song over and over, thinking ‘I have to go to Korea.’ I booked the flight right away in July. I decided to come to the Gyeongbok Palace first to try on the dress. I will go to traditional markets where I can have tteokbokki (spicy simmered rice cakes, a popular Korean street food). I’ll probably go to Myeong-dong for shopping after. There is a lot of information on where to go and what to eat on TikTok.”

Thompson is among many inbound tourists organizing trips to experience K-content firsthand, including tours of drama filming locations and K-pop concerts.

The tourism boom resulting from the global popularity of Korean culture is emerging as a growing economic driver, boosting the country’s stagnant private consumption.

According to data from the Korea Tourism Organization, more than 12.3 million foreign tourists visited Korea in the first eight months of this year, up 16 percent compared to the previous year.

Their spending reached 11.4 trillion won ($8.3 billion) from January to August, up 21.6 percent from the same period last year.

This is notable since spending by Korean tourists dipped to 103 trillion won, down 2.6 percent over the same period.

Moreover, credit card spending by non-Koreans in the country hit an all-time high of $3.79 billion in the second quarter, up 38 percent from the previous quarter.

The share of non-Koreans’ card spending here relative to Koreans’ overseas card spending came to 69 percent, the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2016.

The outlook for the remainder of the year appears even brighter.

As of July, more than 1.06 million Chinese tourists visited Korea, and far more Chinese tourists are expected to spend here as they are temporarily allowed to enter visa-free.

According to the Bank of Korea, an increase of 1 million Chinese tourists is expected to lead to 2.56 trillion won in tourism revenue, boosting the country’s gross domestic product growth rate by 0.08 percentage points.

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