As news of BTS' world tour became known, tourism markets in major Korean cities reacted immediately and travel demand is rising quickly.
According to global lodging platform Hotels.com on the 26th, travel searches from overseas to Seoul jumped 155% from the previous week in the 48 hours after BTS' tour plans were unveiled. In particular, overseas searches for Busan, where a June concert is scheduled, surged 2,375%, marking an exceptional increase. In key Asian regions such as Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, searches for travel to Busan also rose by several thousand percent (%).
Domestic travel demand also increased sharply. During the same period, searches by domestic users for trips to Seoul rose 190%, while Busan jumped 3,855%, showing demand concentrating on the concert host cities.
Overseas, transportation and lodging demand is also expanding rapidly around the concert cities. According to local media in Brazil, after the schedule for BTS' São Paulo concert was released, searches for long-distance bus tickets to the city soared more than 600 times compared with before.
The Guardian, a British daily, called the world tour "a global event that could have a tangible ripple effect on the economies of major North American cities." It predicted accompanying growth across tourism and consumption, including lodging, dining, shopping and transportation, centered on the concert host cities.
Bread Financial, a financial services corporation, analyzed that one concert ticket triggers more than triple additional spending on average in the local economy. Tourism Economics, a tourism-focused economic institute, said, "In the case of BTS, it is highly likely to far exceed this average," adding, "The tour's economic ripple effect will be at a level difficult to compare with typical concert cases."
From the tourism industry perspective, BTS also serves as a key factor in elevating Korea's national image and travel appeal. In the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's "2025 Korea national image survey," BTS was selected as the No. 1 "Korean who had the most positive impact on Korea's image," once again demonstrating the potential to expand K-culture-based tourism demand.
Starting with a Goyang concert in Apr., BTS plans to hold a total of 82 shows in 34 cities across North America, Europe, South America and Asia as part of the world tour "Arirang (ARIRANG)." Coupled with the release of the fifth full-length album "Arirang" in Mar., the movement and spending flows of global fans are expected to expand further.