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Set-jetting trips to Seoul are seeing a significant surge, following the huge success of KPop Demon Hunters, as fans from all over the world rush to visit iconic filming spots in South Korea’s capital city.
The movie bagged two Oscars at the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday, for best animated feature and best original song.
Praised for its beautiful artwork and for showcasing girl superheroes, the film was watched more than 300 million times in the first three months of its Netflix release, with a sequel announced as well.
It has been declared a “cultural miracle” in South Korea, and credited for shifting global fan interest from mainly K-pop culture to wider Korean traditions and beauty rituals.
It has also led to an unexpected boost in travel to South Korea, with 1.36 million international travellers visiting Seoul in July 2025 alone, according to government figures.
This was a 23.1% rise from the previous year and has been directly attributed to fan trips due to the KPop Demon Hunters popularity.
Global flight bookings also jumped 25% in the months following the film’s release in June 2025, Bloomberg highlighted, with bookings from Canada, Asia and Australia increasing dramatically.
This trend remained strong in the next few months too, with South Korea seeing a record 18.9 million foreign tourists last year, according to its tourism board data.
Iconic filming locations, official merchandise and Korean beauty
Fans visiting Seoul are flocking to iconic Demon Hunters filming locations like Bukchon Hanok Village, where the rooftop dates took place, the COEX K-Pop Square from the opening sequence, Myeongdong street from “Soda Pop” and the Naksan Park Fortress Trail from the nighttime stroll and battle sequences.
Bukchon Hanok Village, which also attracts a lot of history and architecture lovers, has now become one of the top trending Seoul tours on Trip.com.
Other highly visited real-life locations are N Seoul Tower, where the climactic battle was shot, and the Seoul Olympic Stadium, where the opening scene was performed.
The National Museum of Korea is also seeing significant numbers of visitors for its gift shops which sell official K-Pop Demon Hunters merchandise, like tumblers, traditional costumes and character-themed keyrings.
Korean spas, or jjimjilbang, are also seeing a surge in interest, especially for their seshin exfoliating scrub treatments.
Bookings for these were up 115% in the summer months following the film’s release, compared to the previous spring months, according to Creatrip, a Korean travel platform offering K-beauty service bookings.
Similarly, demand for acupuncture and herbal medicine, especially hanyak, which was used in the film as well, has grown considerably in the last few months too.
Character meet-and-greets and several pop-up cafes and other film-related experiences have been on the rise as well, along with interest in traditional Korean dishes like samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) and gimbap (seaweed rice rolls).
South Korean government launches K-culture tourism task force
The immense popularity of K-Pop Demon Hunters prompted the South Korean government to launch the K-Tourism Innovation Task Force in September 2025, in order to further boost fan-related tourism and interest in K-culture.
This initiative aims to draw inspiration from successful tourism strategies in other countries like Japan, to divert tourists away from Seoul towards other regional destinations. It also encourages airlines to improve regional connectivity, while boosting tourism infrastructure.
It is led by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, along with the members from academia, the government and the private sector, like the Korea Tourism Organization and Korea Railroad Corp.
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