Seven tour packages use Korean pop culture to attract foreign visitors

A poster for a popular 2019-2020 Korean drama series, “Crash Landing on You”, featuring Hyunbin, left, and Son Ye-jin (TVN)

To attract travelers from Southeast Asia and the Middle East to Korea, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Sunday that it has jointly developed seven tour packages with the Korea Tourism Organization aimed at visiting popular K-dramas filming locations and experiencing K-drama filming locations. pop and K-food.

A survey of foreign tourists to Korea conducted by the Korea Tourism Organization in the fourth quarter of 2023 found that the main reason why foreigners became interested in visiting Korea was “after encountering Korean cultural content,” such as Korean TV series, K-pop and Korean food Despite the usefulness of the ‘Korean Wave’ content in attracting foreign travelers, the Ministry of Culture said travel agencies could not fully utilize it due to intellectual property (IP) issues.

“Travel agencies cannot use the names of celebrities or popular TV series to promote their travel packages unless they properly pay for the use of the IP,” a ministry official said. “On the other hand, foreigners often have difficulty visiting them. to move independently without the help of travel agencies.”

The Ministry of Culture said it has decided to intervene and encourage K-content production companies to cooperate more actively and sign the necessary agreements with travel agencies. The ministry added that it would support the initial costs for travel agencies to use the IPs to promote their travel packages.

The seven selected tour packages include a day tour to Cheorwon, Gangwon, one of the filming locations of the hit series “Crash Landing on You”, before heading to Incheon to see historical sights, ending with dinner at a Korean chicken restaurant.

The luxurious villa in Gangwon where BTS filmed its reality series ″In The Soop″. (JOONGANG ILBO)

BTS filmed its music video in Gangwon (BIGHIT MUSIC)

Another two-day and three-day tour is for BTS fans. Participants will experience the luxurious forest property at the Phoenix Pyeongchang resort in Pyeongchang, Gangwon, where BTS filmed its reality show ‘In The Soop’. This tour package also includes visits to various places in Gangwon and Busan where BTS filmed music videos.

“This project is a pilot project designed to reflect the needs of travel agencies,” said Park Jong-taek, director general of the Ministry of Culture’s Tourism Policy Bureau. “We hope that this active cooperation of K-content production companies will help develop more travel packages for foreign travelers to Korea.”

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE ([email protected])