With a free concert by global idol group BTS set for the 21st of next month at Seoul's Gwanghwamun, retail activity in central Seoul is picking up. Although more than a month remains until the concert, hotel and lodging bookings have increased around Gwanghwamun and the Jongno and Jung districts. In response, the retail and tourism sectors have begun preparing to capture the global fandom's "stay-and-spend" demand.
According to the industry on the 3rd, major hotels around Gwanghwamun, Seoul City Hall, and the Jongno and Jung districts are effectively nearing full bookings for dates around the March 21 BTS concert. The Plaza, operated by Hanwha Hotels & Resorts, is at 100% occupancy for the night of the concert. That is 15 percentage points higher than the actual Saturday occupancy rate of 85% in the same month last year. Thanks to the advantage of overlooking City Hall and Gwanghwamun, rooms sold out even though about a month and a half remains until the concert.
The Four Seasons Hotel, a flagship luxury property near Gwanghwamun Square, is also fully booked on the day of the concert, and the Koreana Hotel right by the square has a 90% booking rate for that day. The Westin Josun Hotel surpassed an 80% booking rate for the same date. Lotte Hotel Seoul and Lotte City Hotel Myeongdong, which are somewhat farther from Gwanghwamun Square, saw booking rates for the concert day rise by 20 percentage points from the previous week.
A similar trend is seen on lodging platforms and in airline bookings. According to travel and lodging platform Yeogi Eottae, bookings for accommodations in Jongno and Jung for March 20–21, the day before and the day of the concert, surged 450% from the same period last year. Parata Airlines' mid-March Japan-to-Korea routes saw booking rates 10 percentage points higher than the previous week, and Eastar Jet Co. increased capacity on China-to-Korea flights during the concert week by about 15% compared with normal levels.
An official at a hotel company said, "This surge in room bookings is the result of 'fandom-driven stay-and-spend' focused on attending the BTS concert," adding, "Fans from other regions or overseas typically lock in flights and lodging weeks in advance. The BTS boom effectively began in earnest right after the Gwanghwamun concert schedule was announced."
The retail sector has moved to the stage of turning this "advance booking trend" into downtown spending. With the concert being a large-scale free event, the focus is on the likelihood that visitors will spend more time in the city before and after the show.
As travel routes have crystallized from the Gwanghwamun concert area to Myeongdong, Insadong, Seoul Station, and the airport, department stores and duty-free shops have rolled out foreign-customer discounts and enhanced amenities. Lotte Department Store will offer up to 10% instant discounts and additional gift certificates to foreign customers from March 19 to 29, and Shinsegae Department Store is considering introducing a dedicated lounge while expanding foreign-only memberships and tax refund kiosks.
Shinsegae Duty Free has strengthened its curation of food, fashion, and beauty brands aimed at K-pop fans, and Lotte Mart has expanded commemorative product lines featuring K-beauty and traditional Korean imagery. Convenience store chains GS25, CU, and 7-Eleven are preparing for large numbers of tourists by increasing inventories of on-the-go items such as beverages, bottled water, and cup noodles at stores centered around Gwanghwamun and Jongno.
The restaurant industry is also moving aggressively to tap into the BTS bump. Some restaurants around Gwanghwamun are seeing a string of group buyout inquiries for dates around March 21. Even shops that normally close on weekends are considering expanding hours. A self-employed operator surnamed Kim (54), who runs a Korean restaurant near Gwanghwamun Square, said, "We plan to increase ingredient orders by 40%–50% based on the concert date," adding, "Because it's a free concert, it's hard to gauge the size of the inflow, so we're preparing more thoroughly."
Industry officials say this BTS concert should not be viewed as a one-off event. The key is how effectively downtown commercial districts can channel the tourism demand drawn by global content into spending and repeat visits. A retail industry official said, "The BTS bump is a preannounced event," adding, "This Gwanghwamun concert will be a test of how precisely central Seoul can design for and capture the global fandom's spending."
Seo Won-seok, president of the Korea Academic Society of Tourism Management (dean, College of Hotel & Tourism Management, Kyunghee University), said, "The BTS Gwanghwamun concert is an important opportunity to convert first-time foreign visitors to return trips," adding, "If we enable them to experience not only the concert but also Korea's diverse content such as food, culture, and museums, it will lead to qualitative improvements in tourism and long-term promotional effects." He added, "To that end, we should expand offerings that let visitors feel Korea's appeal while also working to minimize negative factors such as excessive price gouging."