It feels like everyone watched the movie and got lured away by a water ghost.
A visitor surnamed A, who went to the reservoir "Salmokji" in Yesan County, South Chungcheong, on the night of the 12th, said this. Even at midnight, the scene was so packed with a line of cars that it was hard to turn around. As of 11:30 p.m. that day, about 100 vehicles had set Salmokji as their destination on T Map and were on the move.
The direct trigger was the success of the recently released film "Salmokji." Since opening on the 8th, the movie rose to No. 1 at the box office and surpassed a cumulative 720,000 viewers in four days.
◇ Foreign tourists to "Salmokji" in Yesan County, South Chungcheong, double
As so-called "pilgrimages" to filming or background locations after watching a movie have become routine, they are also helping local business sales. The "filming location effect," in which a single film changes the flow of regional visitors, has been confirmed again. However, since such effects can be short-lived, some said continuous discovery of local content is needed.
According to Korea Tourism Data Lab on the 13th, the number of out-of-town visitors to Gwangsi-myeon in Yesan County, where Salmokji is located, has averaged 1,600 on weekdays and 3,100 on weekends since the first trailer was released in February. That is about a 15% increase from the same period last year.
The number of foreign visitors also increased significantly. On the 8th, it recorded 812, and on the 9th, 876, roughly double the average (in the 400s) during the same period last year. The figures are estimates based on signals from users of carrier KT and SK Telecom.
Salmokji was already known as a "spirit experience spot," mainly on online communities and social media (SNS). Advice circulated to visit during jasi (11 p.m.–1 a.m.) and chuksi (1 a.m.–3 a.m.). In traditional folk belief, jasi is when the gwimun (ghost gate) opens, and chuksi is considered the time when ghost activity is most active.
Since the movie opened, posts certifying visits have been pouring in on SNS and elsewhere. One visitor said, "I watched the film and was immediately drawn in, so I made a round trip that took six hours," while another said, "Even at 3 a.m., people were flocking there."
◇ "Exile site of Danjong" tourist spending up 30% on-year
Such a "filming location effect" has repeated in the past. When a hit comes out, the filming site soon turns into a tourist destination. The film "The King's Warden," which drew 16 million viewers, had an even bigger impact on the local economy.
In Yeongwol County, Gangwon, which has the exile site and tomb of Danjong of Joseon, tourist spending in March this year was 8.023 billion won. That was nearly a 30% jump from 6.209 billion won in the same period last year.
As the number of out-of-town visitors to Yeongwol County increased 24.9%, from 477,834 in March last year to 596,670 in March this year, tourist spending also swelled. Places such as Cheongnyeongpo, Danjong's exile site, reportedly saw visitor numbers jump by about tenfold.
Cases of tourist spots enjoying booms thanks to movie popularity have continued steadily. After the 2014 release of the film "The Admiral: Roaring Currents," Admiral Yi Sun-sin's historic sites bustled, and during the 2016 popularity of the movie "The Wailing," tourists visiting Gokseong County, South Jeolla, increased by more than 300,000.
In particular, with the recent burden of airfares due to a higher exchange rate and high oil prices, more tourists are said to be traveling to find movie settings and filming locations.
Joo Dong-o, a professor in the Department of Tourism at Kyunghee University, said, "Pilgrimage tourism is an experience based on scarcity, so its value can weaken over time," and added, "To lead to long-term tourism demand, it needs to be developed into structured content beyond simply visiting and taking photos, such as verification and course-based programs."