A photo of Jang Man-wol, the lead character in the drama "Hotel Del Luna," recalling her past is linked by a red thread to an image of Garimseong Fortress in Buyeo County, South Chungcheong Province, where the scene was filmed. The red thread symbolizes fate and connection in the series. Foreign visitors follow the thread to find the show's memorable scenes along with the landscapes and place names of the filming locations.
Foreign visitors have been streaming into the Korea Tourism Organization's "K-Drama Experience Exhibition" at HiKR Ground in Seoul's Jung District to view scenery from across Korea featured in well-known dramas. The exhibition, held jointly with Studio Dragon from the 18th of this month through Nov. 19, had already drawn 8,037 visitors in its first 11 days as of the 28th.
The exhibition was designed to introduce domestic tourist destinations to foreign visitors through K-dramas they already know. While the number of overseas visitors to Korea is rising, travel remains concentrated in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area, and the organization wants to spread that demand to other regions. Visitors unfamiliar with Korean geography can discover new destinations through works they already know and their own preferences. According to the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute's 2025 Survey of Foreign Visitors, 40.1% of respondents cited Korean Wave content as what first drew their interest in traveling to Korea, up 8.0 percentage points from 2023.
Drawing on the intellectual property of about 40 dramas including "Hotel Del Luna," "Goblin" and "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha," the exhibition asks visitors to choose favorite lines, scenes, music and props, then recommends filming locations and nearby destinations based on those choices.
The exhibition goes beyond showing locations, prompting visitors to reflect on and record their own tastes. At an information desk modeled on the front desk of the hotel the protagonist runs in "Hotel Del Luna," staff hand out a "memory notebook" for writing down favorite lines, scenes, music and props.
The exhibition also recreates the "red door" from "Goblin" that led to another place when opened. Passing through it, visitors can browse scenes from various dramas and filming locations nationwide. Scanning a QR code on the information panels brings up travel routes and nearby tourism information for that region on a mobile phone.
All visitors receive a "small travel ticket" at the end of the exhibition, recommending a destination suited to their preferences. To turn those recommendations into actual regional visits, the organization has also arranged a joint promotion with the global online travel agency KKday. The promotion sells tour products covering K-drama filming locations including Gangneung, Pohang, Andong, Cheorwon and Suwon, along with benefits such as coupons worth up to $15.
The organization has also devised ways to keep visitors at filming locations longer, encouraging overnight stays and more spending rather than day trips. It has agreed to work with Studio Dragon from the production stage. Before filming begins, the two will review local tourism resources, accessibility and nearby content to build in elements that can be tied to tourism, and will jointly develop experiential content using the IP. They are also pursuing a "Hallyu Olle Trail" that links filming locations and nearby attractions nationwide into a single route. The idea is to widen travel routes so visitors take in surrounding attractions and hands-on programs instead of visiting a single location and heading home.
"If a filming location lacks the capacity to accommodate visitors or nearby tourism content to connect to, there are limits to how much it can develop into regional tourism," said Baek Man-seong, head of the Korea Tourism Organization's Hallyu content team. "Local tourism resources and accessibility need to be considered from the stage of selecting filming locations."
Meanwhile, domestic travel platforms are expanding from their traditional focus on outbound travel by Koreans into inbound travel by foreign visitors. Targeting repeat visitors in particular, they are rolling out a wider range of hands-on programs alongside conventional sightseeing packages.
In a February survey of 100 foreign users by Creatrip, 79% said they would return to Korea within a year, and 45% had visited three or more times in the past three years. Respondents also showed interest in programs they can experience firsthand in Korea, such as K-pop dance classes, makeup lessons and Korean cooking courses. At the global travel platform Klook, traffic for idol makeup and hair experience products rose 148% from a year earlier between January and March 18 of this year.
"In the past, demand from foreign visitors for regional travel was small, so it was hard to actively develop products outside the capital, and existing regional packages were mostly day trips aimed at middle-aged and older Koreans," an official in the domestic travel industry said. "Recently, as visitor numbers and foreign demand for regional travel have both grown, efforts to develop hands-on programs tailored to specific interests are picking up speed."
According to Korea Tourism Statistics, 2.25 million foreigners visited Korea in August, a monthly record. Arrivals through regional airports also increased, reaching 2.83 million from January through August, up 38.2% from a year earlier.
