How Korean dramas are inspiring a brand new wave of set-jetting vacationers

The set-jetting impact—a journey development the place individuals go to areas featured in motion pictures and TV exhibits—has boosted tourism to locations resembling Thailand, Hawaii, Italy, and Croatia. Hollywood isn’t the one place reaping the advantages. In South Korea, Korean dramas (Ok-dramas) have bolstered tourism to numerous locations world wide, too. 

Most Ok-drama showrunners select to movie in South Korea, and the recognition of Korean tradition, Ok-dramas, Ok-pop, and films, also called the Korean Wave, has gone international in recent times. Korean manufacturing corporations have now expanded their seek for filming areas by scouting locations past South Korea’s borders. Not surprisingly, Korean dramas have sparked followers’ wanderlust to go to the locations featured of their favourite exhibits.

Asian set-jetters journey to Switzerland

Korean TV sequence and the true areas used as dramatic backdrops have had an surprising and optimistic influence on particular locations and their economies, together with native companies. Vitali Raietskyi, who works for the tour firm referred to as Open Up Swiss, by no means actually watched Korean dramas previously. She says, “Tourists gave us the idea for a tour.”

When tourism resumed in Switzerland post-pandemic, she seen a rise in Asian vacationers, who have been touring to Switzerland locations—resembling Interlaken, Grindelwald, and Iseltwald—due to the Korean TV present, Crash Landing on You, launched earlier than the pandemic.

“I watched all 16 episodes,” says Raietskyi, sparked by the brand new wave of set-jetting vacationers. “We launched a signature day tour to the most iconic places of the [show] in Switzerland.” The tour rapidly grew to become one of many firm’s hottest day excursions. Ok-drama followers from Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines nonetheless ebook the tour to today. Tourists can see the Swiss Alps and different standard sights—such because the Sigriswil Panorama Bridge and Lake Brienz—that offered the backdrop for the unlikely onscreen romance between a South Korean heiress and a North Korean soldier.

Carmen Fuchs, Sales Manager of Jungfrau Railways, says that there was “an increase in interest from South Korea and other markets influenced by K-drama culture” to go to Switzerland. More particularly, Fuchs says these guests have been requesting info or taking photographs at particular filming websites, such because the Kleine Scheidegg space, Jungfraujoch, and Grindelwald. The sequence exhibits the couple touring Jungfraujoch (nicknamed Top of Europe). This standard vacationer vacation spot is dwelling to the very best railway station in Europe, and different sights just like the Sphinx Observatory and the Ice Palace. Adventurous followers can go paragliding like the feminine character Yoon Se-ri, who lands with Grindelwald-First because the backdrop for her reunion with Ri Jeong Hyeok, additionally the top scene for the sequence finale.  

(This legendary railway traverses the gorgeous Swiss Alps)

Teleport to Québec City, Canada

After the discharge of the Ok-drama Goblin, “The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac noticed a 500 % enhance in Korean visitor bookings and even launched a ‘Goblin Package,” says Anna Lee, president of AL Marketing & Communications, which handles the marketing for Destination Canada in South Korea. 

Actor Gong Yoo plays an immortal goblin (dokkaebi in Korean folklore) who teleports between South Korea and Québec City, where he purchases a hotel, the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. The magical character uses a red door as a portal to the city, located in the Petit-Champlain district, the oldest shopping district in North America. Quaint shops pepper the neighborhood like La Petite Cabane à Sucre de Québec, where you can sample maple taffy, a Québec specialty. Fans can take Breakneck Stairs, the oldest staircase in Québec City, up to Petit-Champlain or take a short scenic ride on a funicular.

The backdrop for this show’s drama prominently options Québec City sights, resembling Pierre-Dugua-De Mons Terrace, which provides a view of the St. Lawrence River and Old Québec City, and Samuel-Holland Park within the Saint Sacrement neighborhood. Even if followers can’t test into the historic Château Frontenac, they need to go to for the spectacular views of Old Québec City.  

(For a slice of Parisian attraction with out the crowds, take into account Quebec City)

A honeymoon in Berlin and Potsdam, Germany

Singaporean blogger Nadia Lau watched the 2024 Ok-drama hit Queen of Tears like most followers. Six months after watching the present, she traveled to Germany to go to all of the locations the lead couple within the sequence went for his or her honeymoon. The present’s honeymoon scenes spotlight the Old-World structure present in Berlin and Potsdam, together with the Berlin Cathedral and Potsdam’s Old Market Square.

The recognition of the present sparked Visit Berlin to publish an inventory of Queen of Tears filming locations on its web site. Fans can comply with the fairytale honeymoon route by taking a stroll alongside the banks of the Spree River, visiting the Neptune Fountain, and searching for good-luck charms at Winterfeldtmarkt. The 18th-century, Rococo-style Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam—a 40-minute practice experience from Berlin—is among the most essential areas highlighted within the present’s flashback scenes of the couple on the sandstone steps. 

(Why you must go to Germany’s Potsdam as a substitute for Versailles)

An augmented Alhambra in Granada, Spain

A departure from the standard Rom-com, Memories of the Alhambra facilities round a hyper-realistic, augmented-reality sport set in Granada, Spain. Part thriller, half Sci-Fi, this sequence follows the possibility encounter between a CEO of a South Korean gaming firm and a Korean hostel proprietor in Granada. Granada’s most well-known attraction, Alhambra—a historic palace and fortress advanced recognized for its Moorish structure—is the true star of the Ok-drama. Fans might recall that the present’s promotional poster supplies a hen’s-eye view of Alhambra from Mirador de San Nicolas. 

The manufacturing crew shot a part of the present within the Spanish metropolis of Girona, and so they additionally filmed in Slovenia, as a stand-in location for Granada. However, the great thing about Alhambra is current as the principle character explores the well-known web site to finish his quest. The present additionally conjures up viewers to go to the Nasrid Palaces of Alhambra, notably the Court of the Lions, the place the carvings and structure make it probably the most placing components of the UNESCO World Heritage web site.

(How to spend the right day in Granada, dwelling of Spain’s Alhambra fortress)

Small-town attraction past Pohang, South Korea

Of course, the final word vacation spot for Ok-drama followers continues to be South Korea. The nation’s slower-paced rural life has been within the highlight not too long ago with exhibits like Hometown Cha Cha Cha and When Camellia Blooms. Production corporations filmed each exhibits in Pohang, an industrial metropolis recognized for its metal manufacturing. 

Quaint fishing villages—surrounding Pohang and in addition featured within the two sequence—seize rural life in a small, tight-knit group. Fans of the exhibits can go to the world to benefit from the laid-back tradition and watch the fishermen in Seokbyeong-ri Village, swim at Wolpo Beach, and check out the favored seafood dish, Mulhoe, a chilly uncooked fish soup made with greens, spicy broth, and chili paste or chili sauce.

Check out murals devoted to the 2 sequence in Cheongha-myeon. Some filming areas preserved the exhibits’ fictional units, the indicators and exteriors of the storefronts, permitting followers to experience Ok-drama nostalgia. 

(10 gorgeous UNESCO World Heritage websites that have been immortalized on display screen)