According to Trip.com, concert tourism is expected to be one of the factors driving the travel industry’s profitability this year, and the upcoming global comeback tour by K-pop group BTS appears to be reinforcing that trend.
Flight tickets and hotel rooms for the tour, which ran from April 2026 to March 2027 in 34 cities across Asia, the Americas, Australia, Europe and the United Kingdom, are selling out as quickly as concert seats, and the tourism spillover is expected to provide an additional revenue boost for the host cities.
Within 48 hours of the January 13 tour announcement, travel searches for the South Korean cities of Seoul and Busan increased by 155% and 2,375%, respectively, compared to the week before the announcement, according to travel booking platform Hotels.com.
This momentum is spreading outside of Korea as well. In host city Kaohsiung, Taiwan, searches jumped 6,700% year-over-year during the Nov. 19 tour date, according to Booking.com, another travel agency platform.
Other large-scale tours that will attract overseas travelers include Bruno Mars, Harry Styles, and the K-pop group EXO.
Fastest finger wins
A woman takes a photo in front of a staircase with the logo and release date of BTS’s 2026 album on it at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on January 14, 2026. K-pop megastars BTS will begin their comeback world tour in April, the band’s label announced on January 14th. (Photo: Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images)
Jung Young Jae | AFP | Getty Images
Despite covering more territory than before and tripling ticket inventory, BTS’ latest tour titled “Arirang” sold out in 20 minutes. The last “Permission to Dance” tour of 2021-2022 sold out in 5-6 hours.
Fans who were unable to complete their purchases due to internet connection problems or poor reflexes during ticket sales were forced to turn to the second-hand market.
According to CNBC, resale prices for Arirang tickets have met fans’ voracious appetite, with some tickets featured on resale platform StubHub selling for about $7,276, nearly 40 times their original price.
Fans also struggled to find suitable accommodation, as high demand fueled price hikes.
Local reports said hotel rooms near major transportation hubs in South Korea were fully booked for BTS’ tour dates, even though some hotels were charging more than double the normal weekend rate.
Short-term tourism promotion
Prudence Lai, a consultant at Euromonitor International, said concert tourists typically travel just to see their idols on stage, but their sporadic but concentrated presence could cause spending to skyrocket.
That’s because the rarity of these one-time events, as opposed to the credibility of annual events, creates a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for fans, which drives demand and makes the industry very lucrative, said Ben Krueger, chief marketing officer at Event Ticket Center.
For comparison, Coachella, the annual music and arts festival in California, generated about half as many web searches as the BTS ticket announcement, Kruger noted.
According to Hotels.com, searches for 3- and 4-star accommodations near BTS concert venues across host cities spiked.
These tourists consider not only proximity to concert venues but also other factors when choosing accommodation. Lai said travelers also consider cost, safety and consistency of service when booking accommodation.
Some hotels are already adjusting to meet the needs of concert tourists. In Spain, Palace Hotel Madrid has set up a concierge team to assist with travel plans and dining options before and after the concerts of BTS and Puerto Rican performer Bad Bunny, whose world tours coincide in June.
On the other hand, concertgoers who add a few days to their trip are more like “business travelers who add a leisure trip after a business trip,” Lai said.
He added that in contrast to luxury travelers who want a completely personalized experience, concert-goers “just want a place to sleep and then go to the concert. So this is a completely different type of tourism that we’re looking at now.”
