Shooting locations for the most popular drama "Descendants of the Sun" has been one major tourist attraction. The hallyu-related theme has become the main attraction for tourists visiting. This has made the significant growth in Korean tourism industry.
The rising popularity of K-Pop and K-Drama around the world has been a major attraction for tourists to visit Korea. According to the data from Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) as quoted by Yonhap News Agency the number of tourists visiting Korea from January to November this year has reached 15.9 million visitors. This figure signifies a 31.3%increase from last year visitors.
From those figures, tourists from China are the biggest number with 36.5% of the total visitors. Despite the relationship between China and Korea which become sour due to the THAAD missiles issue, but that does not deter people from China to come and visit Korea. The visitors from Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia also increased steadily, as well as the visitors from North America and Europe.
One of the main attraction is the shooting locations of the drama "Descendants of the Sun." In its tourist destinations theme, Korean Tourism Organization listed the shooting locations of the drama as one of the themes. The KTO planned to capitalize on the drama's popularity to boost the tourism, as it also appointed Song Joong-Ki, the lead actor in the drama to be the ambassador for Korean tourism.
One of the attraction is the headquarter of the Korean soldiers in the fictional country Uruk, which was filmed at Camp Greaves DMZ Experience Center in Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do. The location is a former U.S. military base and located only 2 km (1.2 miles) from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Another location is Samtan Art Mine, the hiding place of the main antagonist Ryan and his gang.
Another attraction is the location of the refugee camp in the city of Taebaek in Gangwon province. However, many international visitors had expressed disappointment in the many Korean travel forums, because when they visited Taebaek, the area was not ready to become the tourist attraction. Moreover, the government of Taebaek originally planned to reforest the area.
Watch the commercial Korean tourism commercial featuring Song Joong-Ki below:
