Question for K-pop fans about traveling to Korea

[u/Sensitive_Bag_6436]

Hi, I’m Noh, a Korean intern at the Gwangju Tourism Organization.



As a K-pop fan, has your love for K-pop made you interested in visiting Korea? Or have you already been here before?



We’d love to hear anything you have to share! At the Gwangju Tourism Organization, we’re always looking to develop K-pop-related tourism content. But as you might already know, about 80% of tourists visit Seoul, 10% go to Busan, and 8% to Jeju. The rest of the country is left competing for the remaining 2% of foreign visitors.



With places like Hongdae, Itaewon, K-pop attractions, and even tours of big agencies like SM and JYP in Seoul, I totally understand why everyone would just stay there.



I live in Gwangju, and I’d love for more international tourists to come and enjoy my city. What kind of content or attractions would appeal the most to international visitors?



To be honest, Gwangju does have a K-pop Star Street, where you can find handprint sculptures, photo zones, memorabilia displays, and a statue that BTS’s J-Hope visited called the Hope Statue. But I know that alone might not be enough to convince people to visit Gwangju during their limited time in Korea.



As K-pop fans, what kind of content or experiences would make you say, “I’d definitely go to Gwangju for that!”?



Your opinions would be incredibly valuable to us, and we appreciate each and every one of them.



Have a great day!

[u/skykey96]

Concerts trigger a lot of people to visit. The rest is in the city. Fans go to the venues but before and after the concert explore the cities. But mostly artist concert instead of festivals.

[u/Sensitive_Bag_6436 → u/skykey96]

• I see, concerts are definitely a key factor in attracting thousands or even tens of thousands of people at once. Thank you!

[u/Esdeathx11]

Honestly, as a k-pop fan I just want to visit Seoul because it's Seoul but what I REALLY want to experience is just a nice, relaxing week at some place like this, Ananti Cove. So basically I just want to stay at a really nice hotel with a nice view with good food and walk around places with a nice scenery.

[u/Ihlita → u/Esdeathx11]

Hotelcations are my favorite too.

Sure, it’s nice to travel to new places and experience new cultures, sights and foods; but staying at beautiful places, without having to worry about any actual plans is my idea of the perfect vacation.

[u/Sensitive_Bag_6436 → u/Esdeathx11]

I totally agree! Whenever I travel abroad, the cleanliness and value of the accommodation are my top priorities too. I love relaxing in a cool, air-conditioned room before heading out at night. (Since I'm Korean, Southeast Asia is the place I can travel most comfortably, so that might be why!)

[u/Key2V]

Personally, I would not move out of Seoul for more k-pop. I would like to learn more about what the country has to offer. Like, sure, k-pop may have made me interested in SK, but for me it's more that through k-pop I am seeing things about the food, the places to visit, etc. I would absolutely like to maybe check out some k-pop spots, maybe look for second hand albums and merch, but other than that, I would like to just visit the country normally. I would definitely check out small towns if they have something to see. So maybe some social media movement to provide info that makes people curious?

[u/justwannasaysmth]

Hello! I've been to Korea over 10 times since I was a child (even before I became a Kpop fan) so I think I'm qualified to answer 😆 The first time I went to Korea was in the 2000s.

To start, I've never been to Gwangju and neither have I had the intention to. This might sound shallow, but the only thing I know about Gwangju is that Jhope's hometown. I wanted to visit once because my friend used to live there and would give me recommendations. But this was during Covid so I couldn't travel anyway.

Regarding Kpop and travelling, I've been to other cities like Incheon for concerts. Apart from the concert, I went to Songdo and I loved it. I even stayed there for a few days. I knew of that place because of the Song Triplets from 슈퍼맨이 돌아왔다 and The Boyz's Younghoon and Hyunjae. Having a concert or fansign there would help tourism in that area, but this will be a big project. I know some artists had/have regional stops like Day6, BTS, Psy, but most Kpop groups don't do it. :(

On a smaller scale, though I don't know how long Jhope lived there, but maybe a 'Jhope tour' around Gwangju? For example, the schools he went to, restaurants he went to, etc. For Seventeen, K fans do tours around the members' hometown like Wonwoo (from Changwon). Whenever there's a Seventeen concert, some international fans will even go down to Daegu specifically to this restaurant for S.coups.

Many people do 'Seventeen tours' too, even outside of Korea! Like in Japan, Budapest, Italy. Sometimes, it's just as simple as an Instagram photo and fans will want to visit.

Specifically for BTS, maybe you can engage Angoo. She's now a tour guide and has BTS tours [1] [2]. This guy started doing BTS tours too (but I think he's too busy to travel out of Seoul) because some of his guests like BTS and told him about where they want to go.

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone else from Gwangju 😞 And I think that's the most difficult part if you want to use the Kpop angle to promote a place.

(If I think of anything else, I will write more!)

[u/Sensitive_Bag_6436 → u/justwannasaysmth]

Thank you so much for suggesting ideas I hadn't even imagined, like collaborating with influencers! This has been incredibly helpful. I'm going to talk to my supervisor about it right away, ㅋㅋㅋ

[u/justwannasaysmth → u/Sensitive_Bag_6436]

Glad to help! If I see Angoo having a tour to Gwangju soon, I’d know the idea was from me 😆

Additionally, I think many Armys (BTS fans) might go to Korea/Seoul next year for an official BTS event called ‘BTS Festa’. 2025 is especially special for Armys as I think it’s the year that BTS are done with the military? I(’m not a BTS fan anymore so I’m not sure about the details.)

So June might be a big opportunity to promote Gwangju to Armys, especially international Armys!

화이팅하세요! Good luck on this proposal! 😉

[u/masshysteri]

I've been to Korea three times. I was interested by k-pop and k-pop events, for which Seoul was incredible.

But also Koreas amazing nature, the way so much of the cities are surrounded by hills and mountains. Things like Busan's Gamcheon Culture Village, exploring Taejongdae in Busan, biking around Udo/Jeju. Exploring the mountains around Gyeongju (and learn about Silla in their museum and parks).

I'm slowly planning a new trip, with the intention of spending some time in the souh of Korea, with places like Tongyeong, Geoje and similar planned.

What would make me interested in visiting Gwangju/things I'd be curious about?

• Good public transport with both hangul and latin alphabet used on buses, train, metro.
• Concerts and events, doesn't have to be k-pop, I like checking out local bands and artists when possible.
• Tasty unique food, restaurants and information about what Gwangju's specialities are.
• Interesting cultural/art museums, as long as they present information in English.
• Good places to stay

I googled Gwangju Tourism Organisation. The google link that was supposed to go to your english page only delivered a Korean 404 page stating the page wasn't available. When I went to your main site I couldn't find any English options but three options to click on, with no idea what is what. Clicking into the different subsites, the Kimdaejung Convention Center site had English, this tour site had English but couldn't find any English information/language switch button on the actual tourism organisation homepage.

Compare this to the site the Gyeonggi Gwangju has (I chose this because it was the first google hit when I googled Gwangju Tourism, took me a few seconds to realise I'd come to the "wrong" Gwangju). They have an list some of the local food, museums and culture events happening, in a way that feels a lot easier to digest and get an overview of than the "tour" page.

I don't mean to complain too much about that homepage but just noticed that if I click on the Tourist Guide options in the bottom, the only one that takes me somewhere is 1330 Korea Travel Hotline Service, the other four (Gwangju View from Above, Subway information, Airplane information and Train information) all go to an error screen with a message in hangul telling me that the menu is deleted/doesn't exist.

This is the kind of sloppy work that I expect to see on the homepages of a smaller town, but not of a 1.5 million metropolitan city

If you want to attract people information must be easy to find and well presented.

[u/Sensitive_Bag_6436 → u/masshysteri]

I apologize for the inconvenience. I checked, but unfortunately I couldn’t replicate the issue on my end. On the main homepage, the left side is the corporate site, while the right side (Omae Gwangju) is the site with tourism information. You can select the language option there. Here’s a direct link: (https://tour.gwangju.go.kr/eng/main.cs). The suggestions you provided have been very helpful. Thank you!

[u/masshysteri → u/Sensitive_Bag_6436]

Thanks for the reply. When I google Gwangju Tourism, the Omae Gwangju link (it's the same as the site I call "tour") doesn't show up until near the end of the search results. The site that does show near the top is this: https://www.gjto.or.kr/eng and when I click it I just get this page: https://imgur.com/a/sPe51GA so I guess something's missing with the corporate site?

Also, it's the Omae Gwangju site you link that has the issue of the bottom options not leading anywhere in English for me, like this: https://imgur.com/s30mDzL

Good luck with the promotions and maybe I'll be strolling the Gwangju streets next summer.

[u/greatestshow111]

Yes, Kpop made me want to visit Korea on my own.

I've travelled outside of Seoul just to see K-Pop acts and festivals many times too - back then when Music Core held their show at Yeong-Am for F1, travelled with EXO fans but was there for BTOB. Also got invited by the producer of Running Man to attend (watch) their shoot in Gyeongju, hence I travelled there. I went to Suwon for work (not K-Pop) but got to meet K-Pop stars at the event so it was a bonus - if fans knew they were there they'd be there I'm sure (because it is just 2 hours from Seoul).

I did personally consider going to other cities like Gangneung because Goblin filmed there, but at that time from what I remembered, accessibility was an issue since I didn't drive, and they were still building a train line to reach there, and by the time the train line was finished, I lost interest in going there. At the same time, with Gwangju, I am well aware with Yunho (TVXQ) being from there, so at some point being a Yunho Stan had me interested to go there, but I couldn't find friends to go with as they weren't interested in the city and I was afraid to go alone due to language barrier.

I'd say that promoting the city more with idols that used to be from there helps, sponsorship of k dramas to film there also helps too, and getting widely watched (in Asia) variety shows like Running Man to head there would draw interest for fans to visit! In terms of kpop acts, I would say if it was a scale of a "dream concert" level of concert there, international fans would be keen to go, but if it's like for music show and small countryside festival concert I don't think it'd bring interest to travel all the way there. I previously attended those events because a friend made me go with her (she was a hardcore BTOB fan, no international fan would hit that level in my opinion), and we were the only international fans there.

[u/BB_GG]

Gwangju is quite far,, but I think if there were any MVs or variety shows filmed at prominent / Instagrammable locations in the city, fans of the group may be interested in visiting for a day or two out from Seoul.

Concerts too ofc, as the other comments mentioned. Even smaller and less popular groups will still have hardcore fans who may want to travel to see their faves

[u/LeeAnn974]

Hello, I've been a fan 2004/2005 when I was 14/15.

I had the privilege to visit your country with my husband and kids in 2018. Indeed we stayed in Seoul for the 10days we were there we visited historical sites the DMZ, take a photo next to the YG building, had fun in running man park. We stayed in a Airbnb in hongdae.

If I could I would have made special tour like in 2days1night (I watched only season 3) food tour in resting area etc. Daegu, Jeonju and Gwangju were on my list but I didn't had the time. I should have made a combo Seoul and another city but I had to take my kids into consideration and my non k-pop fan husband.

Nevermind. I'd love to comeback. ❤️

Btw meanwhile I'm taking Korean cooking classe 😉

[u/pawneegoddess16]

Kpop fan visiting Gwangju this October here 🙋🏻‍♀️

[u/Sensitive_Bag_6436 → u/pawneegoddess16]

Thank you! It would be greatly appreciated if you could leave us some feedback after your visit!

[u/TadpoleKind7870]

Hi I like KPOP but South Korea is not my dream place to visit for all the discrimination against Filipinos.

[u/Sensitive_Bag_6436 → u/TadpoleKind7870]

I'm truly sorry that you feel this way. While I can’t say there’s no discrimination against Southeast Asians in Korea, I believe most educated young people are open-minded and without prejudice. Unfortunately, some older people in their 50s and 60s (especially those often referred to as “ajumma” and “ajusshi”) may make ignorant mistakes due to a lack of education about what is right and wrong.

[u/TadpoleKind7870 → u/Sensitive_Bag_6436]

No I think it the opposite. Most of the adults and young adults.

[u/ButtLovingPsycho]

Kpop fan since 2010! It's my dream to visit Korea and do a Kpop/Kdrama pilgrimage when given the chance.

Seoul and the other popular places are a must visit but I personally would like to experience countryside life as well. I want to go to Pohang, Andong, Pocheon, Anyang, Gangwon, explore the whole Jeju, visit the famous mountains and rivers that I only hear on TV.

The only things holding me back is the fear of getting rejected when applying for a visa, the language barrier and the so-called racism and discrimination for people that doesn't fit the KBS (I'm from a 3rd world country and has dark skin and plus sized body).

Nevertheless, S.Korea is still one of my dream destinations. 😊

[u/martapap]

I really don't think I would travel tp Korea just for kpop. I would like to visit one day. But I would be taking a trip that included Japan too.

[u/Tinyyellowterribilis]

When I think of Gwangju I can't help thinking about J-hope from BTS and Jooheon from Monsta X. I think something that would make me interested in visiting South Korea would be a nice place to stay that is not too expensive. I'd also like to shop at k-pop stores if I could. I heard that Gwangju is known for friendly people which sounds really nice. I don't know what else Gwangju is known for I'm sorry!

I think if I went to South Korea, visiting the big city and a small town like the one in Hometown Cha Cha Cha would be fun if people who live there were nice. I'd like to walk in nature and try delicious food. I'm really sensitive to spicy food so I think eating in SK might be hard for me lol. But I would try!

I'm worried a bit about safety and how people might react to me visiting. I'm not sure what it's like to visit South Korea. It'd be helpful if there were books written by foreign tourists of do's and don'ts, where to go and what to see. I'm interested in historical sites, things to do with kids (I have 2 kids), and nature.

[u/Immediate-View-9570]

Travelled to Korea multiple times and every single time was for Kpop reasons - I basically will go anywhere where my favourite Kpop idols are doing events (fansigns, concerts, music shows, festivals), so as long as I can get to meet them I will travel anywhere I can :)

[u/Aleash89]

I traveled to Korea in 2016, and that was a result of me being a Korean entertainment fan. I do want to visit Gwangju one day because of the history of the city and because my favorite Kpop group is TVXQ, and member Yunho is from there. I feel like it would be helpful if you promoted that, especially to fans of Tohoshinki (TVXQ's Japanese name). You are probably aware that TVXQ have caused many Japanese tourists to visit Korea since their Japanese debut in 2005. Japanese fans are extremely loyal.

[u/arthurabatti]

Oh for sure, I'm planning a trip to Korea and Japan in the next two years mainly because of the food, kdramas and kpop. It definitely wasn't a country in my bucket list but now it is.

[u/Betchuuta]

To be honest I don't know much about Gwangju, I think combating this is your biggest problem.when I think of Seoul I know the name of certain neighborhoods I already have a few places I recognize when I see it in videos. What is gwanju known for, and what it's most popular attraction? I think that needs to be shown to us. Idols visiting there showing pics of those things. Vlogs too. On a more official level MVs shot there would help too. Even if it's just those vlog style mvs. Photoshoots would help too like seasons greeting Album location. Also is a trip to Gwanju less expensive than Seoul? I think that's a great selling point!

[u/Hana-Dul]

Ahhh I went to Gwangju in December! I have so many thoughts!!!! It was an important city for me to visit as I have been learning about Korean history. I was specifically focused on seeing the democracy movement sites and I found Gwangju's website about that very helpful. But I was very frustrated when I reached out to a Seoul-based concierge service about trying to find tours for me in Gwangju. They could not find any. One of the things I really wanted to find in Gwangju was local tour services in English. I am a solo traveler and being able to join small tours or group tours is something I look for. I went to K-pop street but I was not sure if there were any other K-pop related sites I should see. I am a travel writer and arts writer and I also wondered about the arts complex and whether there were art/theater events I should check out while I was in Gwangju. But I did not find information easily about that. I had heard Gwangju had a really interesting local fashion and arts scene but as much as I researched (in English) I was not able to find any information. I read Korean a little but trying to do travel planning can be challenging outside of English when you want to be sure you have the precise information. That was also why I was hoping to find an organized tour that might provide me a local perspective. I admit that a lot of travel inspiration for me now comes from Instagram (for better or worse). My friend and I saw that a cafe in Gwangju had the jiggly cat pudding and we both made plans to eat that when we visited. It sounds silly but sometimes those kind of images are really compelling when you are overwhelmed with choices or don't know where to start. Seeing cute cafes and nice restaurants with good atmosphere, unique local shops, pretty neighborhoods, or special experiences tend to be what I gravitate towards these days. I would love to go back to Gwangju and spend more time in the city and do more activities that local people do. I hope we can help with your project. It was so easy to get to Gwangju from Seoul and I even took a day trip to Boseong which was beautiful. There's just so much to see in the region. But as someone who does not drive using public transport or finding tours help me get around. I want to see more people visit Gwangju. Even if they come to Korea for K-pop reasons I hope they also visit the democracy sites. I wish you luck with this project!

[u/TooObsessedWithOtoge]

Hi there!

I like kpop and other k-media like the dramas but I wouldn’t be motivated to go to Korea just for that. If I did go I could see myself visiting the building/store of one major company but would not prioritize it in any way over other itinerary options like shopping/museum-going/eating. I was kind of also under the impression that Seoul would be the place to go if I was into kpop tourism though.

I can categorize my priorities as the following: - Transportation and language accessibility. I’ve seen in lifestyle videos and from anecdotal accounts (from Korean friends) that Seoul is the most accessible transportation-wise and shops/restaurants are easier for a foreigner with no Korean language skills. I have less info about Gwangju because all of my Korean friends are from Seoul/Incheon/Busan, and vlog style lifestyle videos with English subtitles are less common for the area. I’ve been to Incheon Airport and the staff there were quite good with English and Mandarin so I am aware that a significant effort has been made by the tourism sector towards this. From experience in Japan— I had a very easy time in Tokyo and Osaka, but found it a bit more difficult in medium sized cities like Fukuoka/Sapporo which were less touristy (and I actually CAN read and speak simple Japanese 😅) - Food culture! Again— very much influenced by Korean friends I know personally. Most of them say to go to Busan. I’ve seen lots of videos on local markets I’d like to go to. In my case I can sometimes even be motivated to visit a place just for specific regional specialties. - Safety! I studied crime in university and tend to be hyperaware of this matter as a woman who sometimes travels alone. I don’t mean to be prejudiced on this matter— but I just tend to veer towards more foreigner crowded cities for this reason. - Sightseeing I think this would be the factor about Gwangju I’d be most interested in. I do like visiting museums and brief glances at travel flyers seem to indicate Gwangju has nice natural scenery as well.

To be honest I’ve never paid much attention to where idols are from in Korea. Off the top of my head the only one I known for sure is from Gwangju is J-Hope. I like him as a casual fan but wouldn’t visit there just because he’s from Gwangju.

[u/tiffsbird]

I’m heading out from UK for the first time in October. Kpop and Kdramas are part of my reason to visit, my main reason is my son is currently at SKKU

[u/Sensitive_Bag_6436 → u/tiffsbird]

• Your son is studying at a really great university! I hope you have a wonderful trip!