K-pop fuel new wave of Taiwan trips
BTS and BigBang are drawing thousands of overseas fans to Taiwan, with Filipinos among those fueling the surge in travel searches.
CONCERTS are driving a spike in travel interest abroad, with Filipinos among the top overseas fans searching for accommodations during the shows.
Photograph courtesy of unsplash/timo volz
K-pop’s biggest names are proving to be powerful tourism magnets, with new data showing a surge in international travel interest to Taiwan ahead of concerts by BTS and BIGBANG.
Digital travel platform Agoda reported that accommodation searches from overseas travelers to Kaohsiung jumped 3.6 times during the dates of BTS’ upcoming ARIRANG world tour concerts in November, while searches for Taipei during BIGBANG’s October shows climbed 38 percent compared to two weeks earlier.
The Philippines emerged as the biggest source market searching for accommodations in Kaohsiung during BTS’ concerts, followed by Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand. Japanese fans recorded the sharpest increase, with searches rising more than 14 times.
For BIGBANG’s Taipei concerts, Japan led the growth in travel interest, while the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea and Singapore also posted notable increases in accommodation searches.
The figures reflect Taiwan’s growing appeal as a regional concert destination, particularly Kaohsiung, which has aggressively expanded its live entertainment scene in recent years. City officials estimate that concerts have generated nearly NT$18.9 billion in tourism revenue since 2023, driven by more than 150 performances and over 1.7 million attendees.
Beyond ticket sales, large-scale concerts have boosted hotel bookings, restaurant visits and other tourism-related spending. Data from Taiwan’s National Credit Card Center also found that international concertgoers spend roughly twice as much on accommodations as domestic visitors.
With global acts continuing to include Taiwan on their tour schedules, major concerts are becoming more than entertainment events, they are helping reshape the country’s tourism landscape.