Heartthrob Park Bo-gum named face of Korea’s tourism push
Actor Park Bo-gum / Courtesy of the Korea Tourism Organization
Actor Park Bo-gum will lead a new global campaign aimed at attracting visitors to Korea.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Thursday it will officially appoint Park as this year’s honorary ambassador for Korea tourism.
In recent years, the ministry and the Korea Tourism Organization have rolled out global campaigns featuring BTS in 2022, Lee Jung-jae in 2023 and NewJeans in 2024.
Park will promote Korean tourism through two commercials, one styled as a short film and the other as a music video, accompanied by bonus footage. He also performed the theme song for the music video, titled “On My Way.”
The ministry and the organization have also partnered with Netflix to produce tourism-themed videos inspired by Korean hits such as “Squid Game” and “All of Us Are Dead.”
Through November, the ads will be displayed on landmark billboards in 16 major cities, including New York, Tokyo, Beijing and Bangkok. The campaign will extend its reach to key overseas markets via YouTube and Netflix.
“Korean content remains the biggest driver of global interest in the country,” said Seo Young-chung, acting president of the Korea Tourism Organization. “In our 2024 survey of potential international travelers, 45.2 percent said they became aware of Korea as a travel destination through Korean programs. We’ll do our best to turn that fandom into actual visits.”
Korea is seeing a rebound in foreign tourist arrivals, with numbers returning to prepandemic levels. From January to May, 7.21 million visitors entered the country, up 14.7 percent from the same period last year and about 103.5 percent of the 2019 figure, according to the Korea Tourism Organization.