Kpop group BTS will kick off the "Arirang" tour from April 9 at Goyang Stadium (Korea), then tour in 34 cities in North America, Europe, South America and Asia. With 82 shows, this tour has created an immediate reaction to tourism and the economy in each region.
According to the global accommodation platform Hotels.com, within 48 hours of BTS announcing its tour plan, travel searches from abroad to Seoul increased by 155% compared to the previous week. Busan alone - where the performance in June - skyrocketed by 2.375%.
In major regions in Asia such as Japan, Hong Kong (China), Taiwan (China), travel searches to Busan increased by thousands of percent. Even in South Korea, travel searches to Seoul (190%) and Busan (3,855%) also increased sharply.
Reactions from abroad were extremely lively. Brazilian news radio BandNews FM considered BTS's performance in Sao Paulo in October a big topic. Citing data from the ticketing platform ClickBus, they said that after the tour was announced, bus ticket searches to Sao Paulo increased more than 600 times compared to before.
The Guardian (UK) also paid attention to the economic impact that BTS's tour brings. The newspaper quoted economists as saying that this is "a global event that could have a major impact on the economies of cities across North America".
Demand for tourism, accommodation and consumption in concert-organizing cities is predicted to increase sharply.
According to financial service company Bread Financial, a regular concert ticket creates an average consumer effect more than 3 times higher for the local economy.
However, the tourism economic analysis organization Tourism Economics emphasized: "These average figures do not apply to BTS. They will far exceed that level, and it is even very difficult to accurately estimate the economic impact that this tour creates.
Not only affecting the global economy, BTS also contributes greatly to enhancing South Korea's national image.
In the "Korean National Image Survey 2025" announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, BTS ranked 1st in the list of "Koreans with positive influence on the country's image".
In addition, Jungkook member also ranked 6th - the highest among solo artists.
BTS will release their 5th studio album "Arirang" on March 20. The album includes 14 songs, exploiting the group's identity and emotions such as longing and deep love, promising to touch the sympathy of global music fans.
