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| A woman takes a photo in front of a large poster of BTS at Seoul Sports Complex in southern Seoul, Saturday, when the boy band's concert was held. / Yonhap |
By Kim Rahn
BTS was the most favored K-pop act among global fans, and nine out of 10 such fans are planning to visit Korea, a survey showed, Monday.
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) conducted the survey on 12,663 people from 111 countries through its websites operated in eight languages and its overseas branches' social media channels between August and September.
Regarding their favorite K-pop stars, BTS easily outpaced other singers, gaining 36.1 percent of the responses. The boy band was followed by EXO (10.4 percent), Super Junior (8.2 percent), BIGBANG (5.6 percent), Shinhwa (3 percent) and IU (2.7 percent).
BTS was especially popular among people from Europe, Japan, America and the Oceania region, and its popularity grew as the ages of the respondents decreased.
More than 89 percent of those surveyed showed an intention to visit Korea for tourism purposes, and the intention was especially stronger among fans of BTS and EXO, as 92.3 percent and 92.7 percent of their fans said so, respectively.
Some 76 percent of fans planning to visit said they want to come within a year. The distance between Korea and their homelands didn't seem bothersome, as over 97 percent of fans from Spain, Mexico, Russia and Germany showed their willingness to visit Korea.
Of the total respondents, 67.9 percent have been to Korea within the last three years, and 86.8 percent of them said their love for K-pop affected their decision.
During their visits to Korea, they mostly purchased goods featuring their favorite stars including clothes and accessories, and visited places where ads of the stars were placed, such as subway stations and outdoor signboards. They also visited the stars' agencies or the agencies' shops selling official goods, and sites used in filming music videos or shops frequented by the stars. More than 90 percent said they were satisfied with these K-pop-related activities.
The surveyed people became interested in K-pop stars on average three to four years ago, and 30.6 percent said YouTube was the main medium through which they came to learn about K-pop.
Besides K-pop, they said they were interested in Korean food, soap operas, entertainment TV programs, the Korean language and alphabet and beauty products.
"We plan to develop tour courses featuring famous spots in provinces related to K-pop stars or their songs, so more individual travelers can visit places other than Seoul," the KTO said in a press release.
