Le Sserafim performs during its first world tour ″Easy Crazy Hot″ at the Inspire Arena in Incheon on April 20. SOURCE MUSIC Bookings by foreign visitors soared 619.2 percent during weeks with a K-pop concert, while baseball game days lifted bookings outside the greater Seoul area by 20.5 percent, according to data from Korea's national tourism authority. Overnight stays by foreign travelers grew about 15 times faster than those by domestic travelers over the past three years, an analysis released by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) showed on Monday. The analysis drew on mobile carrier, credit card and booking data from its Korea Tourism Data Lab. K-pop concerts are only a part of the wider shift in the locations and recreation driving reservations for overnight stays in Korea. Golf, hot springs and baseball are increasingly pushing travelers to cities outside the greater Seoul region, with foreign visitors driving most of the growth. Total overnight stays by foreign visitors from June 2025 through May of this year were 29 percent higher than from June 2023 through May 2024. Overnight stays by domestic travelers rose just 1.9 percent over the same period, making the growth rate among foreign visitors about 15 times higher. 종합 릴게임 While foreign visitors accounted for 14.6 percent of overnight stays nationwide from June 2025 through May, the share was much higher in major tourism destinations. Foreign tourists accounted for 27.3 percent of stays in Incheon ? home to Incheon International Airport and now the Inspire Arena, where big K-pop concerts are held ? while 26.3 percent of overnight stays in Seoul were by foreigners. Park Jin-young and ILLIT perform ″When We Disco″ (2020) at Weverse Con at Inspire Arena in Incheon on June 15. 2024 WEVERSE CON FESTIVAL Foreigners also stayed more on Jeju Island and in Busan, accounting for 25.9 percent and 20.7 percent, respectively. Average bookings by foreign visitors in weeks when concerts were held by three K-pop acts on Billboard's list of top touring artists ? which the data did not specify ? jumped 619.2 percent against weeks with no shows, about 6.1 times the 101.5 percent rise among domestic travelers in the same data. Baseball games also led more people to stay overnight in different cities. 아바타 게임 On game days, reservations near stadiums rose 20.5 percent in noncapital areas, compared to 4.9 percent in the greater Seoul area. Five of the KBO's 10 teams play their home games in Daejeon, Gwangju, Busan, Daegu and Changwon, while three teams are in Seoul, one in Incheon and one in Suwon, Gyeonggi. A sellout crowd cheers during a game between the SSG Landers and Lotte Giants at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on April 5. YONHAP Foreign travelers are also venturing outside the Seoul capital region, which consists of Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon. The noncapital region’s share of foreign overnight stays rose from 39.5 percent between June 2023 and May 2024 to 43 percent between June 2025 and May of this year. Notably, Busan experienced a 29.9 percent increase in overnight stays by foreigners, followed by Jeju at 28.9 percent. Within North Gyeongsang, Andong rose 24.1 percent and Gyeongju 14.1 percent. The KTO said Andong's improved transportation from Seoul, notably KTX high-speed rail connections, helped attract more tourists, including those who stayed in traditional Korean-style houses and took night tours. 릴게임알라딘큰불 Comparatively, Koreans chose to stay overnight in Pyeongchang, Gangwon, which had a booking share growth of 116.9 percent, followed by Andong and Gijang County in Busan at 106.4 percent and 78.5 percent, respectively. Pyeongchang, the host city of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, is known for ski resorts and wintertime activities. Gijang is known for Lotte World Adventure Busan amusement park and Haedong Yonggung Temple, a Buddhist monastery on the East Sea. A tourist takes a photo at Haeundae Beach in Busan on Aug. 28 as rain falls across much of Korea. YONHAP Travelers appear to be choosing accommodations based on what they can do nearby. Booking shares related to golf courses rose 199.3 percent over three years, while those linked to hot springs increased 98.9 percent and water parks 56.5 percent. "This analysis shows that lodging competitiveness is not decided by the number of rooms alone but by the local experiences that make a traveler want to stay an extra day," KTO's head of tourism AI innovation, Kim Young-mee, said. "We have to connect concerts, sports and leisure facilities with lodging, transport and local businesses and take extra care to improve transportation convenience, so that each region can build its own special reason for a night's stay." BY CHO YONG-JUN [] ht stays r