THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY ON INTERNATIONAL TOURIST ARRIVALS IN SOUTH KOREA

Abstract

The growing popularity of the Hallyu wave, or Korean entertainment content, among international audiences since the early 2000s has been cited in previous research papers as one of the many reasons for the influx of international tourists to the Republic of Korea (ROK) in recent years. The phenomenon can be explained by Korean entertainment content, such as K-dramas and K-pop, which serve as soft power for its government, promote Korean culture and goods in the international community, and could potentially attract K-content fans to visit the country. Thus, this study examines the effects of Korean entertainment content, using Google search trends, the value of Korean exports, and the Korean government’s cultural promoting budget as independent variables, on the number of international tourist arrivals in South Korea. The data includes tourists from 35 countries and territories, as identified by the Korean Tourism Knowledge and Information System (KCTI), over 8 years, from 2012 to 2019, quarterly. The international tourist arrivals by country of origin were further categorized by gender for deeper analysis. The study employed a multivariate regression analysis based on an augmented gravity model. The panel data analysis utilized a robust random-effects approach to investigate the impacts of the Hallyu wave on the number of international tourist arrivals. The findings indicated that Google search trends related to K-content demonstrated both negative and positive correlations with the international tourist inflows to South Korea depend on the gender and lagged period. Meanwhile, the Google search trends related to tourism in Korea, the exports of Korean goods, and the Korean government’s cultural promoting budget showed a positive relationship with the dependent variable in the regression model.