In the southern hinterland of South Korea stands a city from the early 20th century, where many tourists flock, sometimes moved to tears. However, the place is not a historical site of inestimable value, but the remains of the setting of a popular series.
"At that moment, it hit me: To me, it was just a studio, but to them, it was so much more," says tour guide Sophy Yoon, recalling the first time a guest started crying at Sunshine Land.
The idea that foreign tourists would decide to pay a large sum of money and travel hundreds of kilometers away from the capital, just to visit the filming location of a K-drama (South Korean series), had previously seemed "insane" to him.
However, Korean culture, popularized in particular by the boy band phenomenon BTS, continues to infuse the world and also affects fans of the small screen.
Fans have long been traveling to South Korea to follow in the footsteps of their musical idols and see the dormitory of their days as budding stars, or the set of a music video.
Locations related to K-dramas, the most-watched non-English content on Netflix according to the platform's figures, have also become popular, extending the so-called "Hallyu," the rapid and widespread diffusion of K-culture in Korean.
Set in Nonsan, some 170 kilometers from Seoul, "Sunshine Land" is a testimony to the filming of "Mr. Sunshine" (2018), the story, embellished with romance, of a Korean taken to the United States as a child and returned as an adult to his native country, straddling the 19th and 20th centuries.
From a period tram to the most famous Buddhist bell in the country, the decor has taken on the symbols of the time.
"It's like when you go to the steps of the Spanish Steps in Rome and Audrey Hepburn has an ice cream," says Ms. Yoon, referring to the film "Roman Holiday" (1953) starring the actress and Gregory Peck.
For the growing number of tourists, "every door, every wall has a meaning (from) a drama that has impacted their lives," the guide explains, adding that she is receiving more and more requests for these "K-drama tours."
– “Two boxes of tissues” –
South Korea's recent cultural champion title "has contributed to the attractiveness of tourism," confirms Kwak Jae-yeon, director of the "Hallyu" team of the Korea Tourism Organization.
The Asian country welcomed 1.4 million visitors in September, the highest number since the Covid pandemic and up 331.3 million year-on-year. More than a third said they made the decision "after being exposed to 'Korean Wave' content," according to a 2023 survey by the organization.
In Seoul's central Jongno district, tourists like Sookariyapa Kakij are legion. Dressed in a "hanbok," a traditional Korean outfit, the 40-year-old woman says she came from Thailand to visit the filming locations of her favorite series.
"I want to find the locations where Itaewon Class was filmed," she told AFP of the 2020 K-drama, which was largely set in the Seoul neighborhood it is named after.
Jennifer Zelinski, who fell into the K-pot thanks to "Crash Landing on You" (2019), confided to AFP that she had never left the United States before deciding, seduced by K-dramas, to go to South Korea.
"I watched all the episodes in a week. I barely slept and finished two boxes of tissues," she recalls.
– Avoid “overtourism” –
The tourism sector is redoubling its efforts to meet expectations.
On the Klook platform, an agency assures that its trips dedicated to BTS are "fully booked until February" and says it is preparing outings dedicated to other groups.
However, this new form of tourism is mainly focused on Seoul, notes Ji Youn Jeong, a professor at Kyungpook National University, calling for "developing tourism resources linked to contemporary culture."
In fact, rural areas offer more experiences based on traditions.
Offering special series tours across the country would also help avoid "overtourism that can disrupt the daily lives of locals" living in places made famous by the series, said Lee Hoon, a professor at Hangyang University.
Emma Brown, for example, chose Pohang, a coastal city in the southeast known above all for its steel industry, but also the setting for "When the Camellia Blooms."
Assuring that this love series released in 2019 "changed (her) life", the thirty-year-old explains that she traveled 8,800 kilometers from Scotland because she wanted to "experience the series for real".
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