Following the unexpected success of "KPop Demon Hunters," tourists began planning trips to South Korea to experience the locations, culture, and activities featured in the film.
Tourists enjoy ramen and other Korean dishes at a Netflix pop-up cafe. Source: Netflix.
At the 98th Academy Awards ceremony on the evening of March 15th (local time), K-Pop film Demon Hunters beat out many strong contenders to win the Best Animated Film award. Korean media has called it a cultural icon, with a powerful impact that extends far beyond the small screen.
Beyond its cinematic success, the film also sparked a new tourism boom. Many fans worldwide began planning trips to South Korea to experience the locations, culture, and activities featured in the film, according to Bloomberg.
Christine Kim, who lives in Hawaii (USA), is one of the early adopters of travel inspired by this film. In fact, her trip to Seoul with her husband and two children was booked before the Netflix film was released in June 2025.
Initially, the family planned to visit their grandparents. However, after the characters Rumi, Zoey, and Mira from the show became idols for their 5-year-old daughter, the trip schedule changed.
Instant noodle cups featuring characters from the movie are displayed at a supermarket in Seoul, September 3, 2025. Photo: Yonhap.
The family visited a jjimjilbang (Korean-style spa) and Namsan Tower – the location of the Saja Boys' final performance in the film.
"My daughter seemed very surprised to learn that the locations in the movie actually exist in real life. She was so excited she was speechless," Kim said.
Not only their daughter, but the entire Kim family also embraced the cultural wave from the film. They bought their son a black hanbok and a gat hat to dress up as the character Saja Boy for Halloween.
According to South Korean government figures, approximately 1.36 million international tourists visited Seoul in July 2025, a 23.1% increase compared to the same period the previous year. This increase is attributed to the "boom in trips fueled by the K-Pop craze Demon Hunters ."
This trend continued to increase in the following months, contributing to South Korea welcoming a record 18.9 million international tourists in 2025, according to the country's tourism agency.
Neil Hassall, administrator of the Facebook group "South Korea Travel Tips and Planning," said the community's membership has surged thanks to fans of the drama.
"This is the biggest increase I've seen since the Squid Game era," he said, analyzing that the group had around 65,000 members in June 2025 and nearly doubled to 120,000 by January 2026.
Two tourists wearing Hanbok, the traditional Korean attire, at Bukchon Hanok Village. Source: Korea Tourism Organization.
Haemin Yim, CEO of Creatrip, believes that the K-Pop craze for Demon Hunters is different from previous Hallyu tourism trends.
Previously, tourists came to South Korea for concerts, entertainment company headquarters, or cafes associated with idols. But this film attracted a large English-speaking audience in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, helping to spread the Korean cultural wave even wider.
According to her, most of the cultural elements featured in the film, from hanbok, jjimjilbang, gimbap, samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), K-Pop dance to traditional medicine, are experiences that tourists can directly try when visiting South Korea.
"The film is like a 90-minute introduction to everyday life in South Korea, but told through a compelling story that 500 million people have seen," she said.