A K-pop megaband indeed — BTS's inaugural world tour concerts outside Korea's capital city led to a 3,377 percent jump in the number of tourists and a 3,699 percent surge in the amount of money they spent in the host city compared to respective figures from the first quarter of this year, government data showed on Wednesday.

During the three concerts in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on April 9, 10 and 11, a total of 48,581 foreign tourists visited the city and spent 337.8 million won ($229,000) — a 35-fold and 38-fold increase, respectively, compared to the January to March period.


The analysis comes from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which studied the economic impact, especially on tourism and the local merchants, of BTS's long-awaited “Arirang” comeback performance in central Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square on March 21 and its first three concerts of the “Arirang” tour that took place earlier this month. The report compiled data from foreign travelers' telecommunications and credit and debit card spending, as well as in-person surveys conducted at the sites.

According to the analysis, inbound foreign tourists stayed in Korea longer during both the Gwanghwamun performance and tour concerts than those who visited the country during the first quarter. For the former, foreign tourists stayed for an average of 8.7 days, up 2.6 days from the usual 6.1 days, marking a 1.4 increase; for the latter, they stayed for 7.4 days, up 1.3 days, or 1.2 times longer.

During the days surrounding the Gwanghwamun performance, foreign tourists spent an average of 3.53 million won — 1.4 times more, or 1.08 million won higher, than the average 2.45 million. For the three “Arirang” tour concerts, they spent an average of 2.91 million won — 1.2 times more, or 460,000 won higher, than the average. During this time, the boy band's agency HYBE also launched a citywide BTS-themed program for fans in Seoul.

Due to these positive effects, the Culture Ministry aims to strengthen K-culture and K-tourism promotional efforts, especially ahead of the BTS concerts in Busan on June 12 and 13.

The government will hold a special promotional period for inbound tourists from June 1 to 15 to encourage regional tourism in relation to four K-pop concerts scheduled to take place during that time. It will install two exhibitions connected to the performances and promote regional tour spots that have been used in K-dramas and K-pop music videos.

“The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism aims to study the details of inbound tourism and use the results to cultivate related policies,” said Kang Jung-won, the head of the Tourism Policy Bureau at the Culture Ministry.

“We were able to witness the positive effects that a large-scale [Korean Wave] performance had on regional visits thanks to BTS's performances in Gwanghwamun and Goyang. The goal would be to go beyond a simple show and expand it to broader K-culture and regional tourism content so that visits to the capital area trickle down to regional levels.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]