BTS comeback tour boosts South Koreas soft power efforts overseas

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BTS Concert Attracts Large Crowd and Generates Significant Economic Impact

A crowd of hundreds of thousands gathered at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on March 21 to watch K-pop group BTS perform their first return concert in nearly four years. The event was part of a larger trend of interest in South Korean culture, which has been fueled by the group’s global popularity.

According to city officials, an estimated 300,000 people attended the concert, with many more watching on big screens set up for the occasion. The event was also livestreamed on Netflix, attracting over 18.4 million viewers worldwide.

BTS’s return to the entertainment world has had a significant impact on the global economy. Their 10th studio album, Arirang, topped the charts in the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, generating an estimated $1.4 billion in revenue from their upcoming world tour across 80 shows in 23 countries.

The concert also drew large crowds of tourists to Seoul, with inbound tourist numbers rising 32.7% during the first 18 days of March compared to the previous month. Hotel prices surged across central Seoul as demand for rooms increased, and sales of BTS merchandise surged 430% at a retail outlet in central Seoul.

A study by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute found that a single BTS concert in Seoul can generate up to $798 million in economic impact. The institute’s researcher noted that the event drew a significant number of foreign visitors, many of whom required long-haul travel to attend.

The Seoul government provided significant support for the concert, deploying over 10,000 state personnel for security, logistics, and crowd control. The city spent an estimated $87,400 on logistics for the event, according to data retrieved by a South Korean publication.

Source: Al Jazeera