HallyuRevisited: Challenges and Opportunities for the South Korean Tourism

Abstract

The tourism industry in South Korea has undergone unprecedented growth and faced multiple changes since 2000, thanks to the recent emergence and growing popularity and influence of the Hallyu phenomenon. Although an earlier research paper in Tourism Geographies in 2009 provided insights into the relationship between the Hallyu and patterns of inbound tourism, little scholarly effort has been made to investigate how the Korean tourism industry has evolved in response to the challenges and opportunities generated by the Hallyu. The findings suggest that until recently, the government did not have a comprehensive mid-and long-term tourism policy dedicated to the Hallyu and its impacts on tourism. Diversified trends and patterns of Hallyu-related tourism, a paucity of longitudinal approaches to market segmentation research and long-term trend analyses, and a lack of coordination between the Korean government and key tourism agencies have been also identified as key issues and challenges.

The Influence of Hallyu on Africans’ Perceptions of Korea: The Moderating Role of Service Quality

“…In particular, Hallyu involving a K-drama, K-pop, and K-sports was significant. Added to that, the results for H2 indicated that destination image also had a significant positive effect on behavioral intention, which corroborates previous findings that destination image has a significant positive impact on behavioral intention [2]. H3 indicated that service quality had different perceptions of Hallyu and destination image.…”

“…In another study, Lee et al examined the involvement of Hallyu celebrities in Japan and found that they exerted a cognitive and emotional influence on Korea's tourist image as well as swayed intention to visit Korea. Kim and Nam [2] also suggested that Hallyu has a significant impact on the national image and behavioral intention. Among other findings, Lee, Lee and Jeon [3] observed that Korean celebrities, dramas, and music could play key roles in creating a positive national image for South Korea and shaping such behavioral intentions.…”

“…In our research model, we established four variables-Hallyu, destination image, behavioral intentions, and service quality-that we measured with a questionnaire containing items from past studies that we modified for our study's purposes. We used factors of Hallyu with 13 items suggested by Kim, Kim and Han [21] and Kim and Nam [2], which include the following: "I am very interested in K-dramas," "I often watch K-dramas," "I think the storylines of K-dramas are unique," "I get immersed in the acting of K-dramas," "I recommend K-dramas to other people," "I like K-pop lyrics and melodies," "I often watch K-pop music videos," "I have purchased K-pop music," "I want to attend K-pop concerts," "I often watch K-sports," "I am very interested in K-sports," and "I recommend K-sports to other people." In terms of destination image, we measured destination image with 6 items suggested by Kim, Kim and Han [21] and Choi, Meng and Kim [9], which include the following: "Korea is safe," "Korea has nice weather," "Korea's environment is clean," "Korea's sanitation level is high," "Korea's historic heritage is interesting," "Korea's cultural resources are interesting," "Korean people are friendly," and "Korea's nature is beautiful."…”

“…In recent years, as Hallyu has expanded beyond Asia, the content of the phenomenon has increasingly contributed to popular culture, art culture, and food culture [1] and its impact has attracted significant attention around the world [2,3]. Research from a Korean creative content agency, for example, has revealed a rise in exports from the Korean broadcasting industry.…”

The Meaning of Muslim-Friendly Destination: Perspective of Malaysian and Korean Scholars

“…However, by combining the traditional culture with the limited tourism resources, South Korea can have the advantage of creating a unique Korean tourism [7]. For the years between 2007 and 2011, Chinese and Japanese tourist are the main Korean incoming tourism markets, which during those years take more than 50% of total tourists [8]. However, in 2011 in the incoming tourism from USA rank the third in Korea market.…”