South Korea Turns Dailycation Research Into a Sound-Led Tourism Campaign

At a Glance

• Why Korean Tourisn Organisation believed the traditional tourism marketing playbook wasn’t enough for this audience
• How behavioural research shaped the campaign’s creative decisions
• Why sound became the campaign’s organising creative device
• How KTO combined that creative ambition with K-drama star power and campaign activation
• Screen-powered destination marketing and the cultural reach of a recognisable screen star

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) launched at the end of July 2026 a creative and experimental promotional campaign under their official slogan, Imagine your Korea.

Rooted in behavioural research commissioned after KTO identified changing visitor behaviours, the campaign challenges some of the more established assumptions about what should sit at the heart of a successful tourism campaign. 

This strategic shift by KTO is capitalising on the growing travel behaviour known as Dailycation (daily + vacation), a term created by the tourism board following research it commissioned after identifying changing motivations among certain groups of international visitors to Korea.

Through its creative direction, KTO deliberately heroes the ordinary, challenging the assumption that destination marketing should always focus on a destination’s most iconic sights and experiences. In doing so, the campaign creates a different kind of wanderlust, inviting audiences to imagine experiencing Korea not simply through the places they visit, but through the everyday sounds and moments of daily life

With a hero short film called Begin to Hear Korea, the campaign features globally recognised K-drama star Park Bo Gum, star of Netflix’s When Life Gives You Tangerines and returning for a second year as KTO’s Honorary Tourism Ambassador, alongside Danish-Korean multi-instrumentalist and sound collector Christian Ki Dall, performing under the moniker Ki!.

The film follows a fictionalised South Korean music director, played by Park Bo Gum, whose home surroundings have become all too familiar to him. Alongside him is Danish-Korean multi-instrumentalist and sound collector Christian Ki Dall, performing under the moniker Ki!, whose fascination with collecting everyday sounds leads him on a journey across Korea, recording everything from subway announcements and bustling traditional markets to the gentle ringing of wind bells hanging beneath the eaves of a hanok. Through the recordings he shares, capturing a diverse soundscape on his travels, the two begin to experience the same country in very different ways.

The Dailycation Research

To dive more into this changing visitor behaviour, in 2024 the Korea Tourism Organization partnered with the independent social-policy research body, the Gonggammanse Corporate Research Institute.

They analysed why post-pandemic international travellers were increasingly bypassing traditional tourist attractions in favour of neighbourhood convenience stores, local hair salons, ordinary cafés and other everyday experiences.

The findings culminated in an official state report, K-Lifestyle Tourism Content (Dailycation) Current Status Analysis, published in January 2025.

KTO’s Tourism Product Bureau packaged these insights into the K-DAILY campaign framework for new global marketing, establishing six core themes:

• Krunch Like Koreans – exploring local street food and Korean barbecue.
• Dive in Like Koreans – engaging in local hobbies, communities and fandom.
• Adorn Like Koreans – experiencing personal colour consulting and professional styling.
• Inhale Like Koreans – seeking out quiet nature, wellness and temple stays.
• Lounge Like Koreans – unwinding along Seoul’s Han River parks.
• Yell Like Koreans – experiencing local festivals, concerts and sporting events.

Building on this research and new framework, KTO commissioned Begin to Hear Korea, its new global promotional campaign.

Why This Creative Route?

KTO’s Dailycation research did not simply identify a new audience segment. It also challenged what a successful tourism campaign for Korea should look like for that audience. If more international visitors were increasingly seeking out authentic daily routines, neighbourhood experiences and the ordinary moments of Korean life, the creative challenge became how to communicate that behaviour in a meaningful way.

Rather than producing another fast-cut destination montage built around famous landmarks, bucket-list attractions and beauty shots to inspire, KTO commissioned a narrative short film that encourages viewers to slow down, observe and listen. The creative response seen in Begin to Hear Korea is that part of experiencing everyday Korean life is allowing yourself to slow down and take in the sounds around you.

Making sound the central creative device is therefore far more than an artistic decision. Instead of presenting the destination through a checklist of places, Begin to Hear Korea explores how the everyday sounds of the cities and countryside, subway announcements, traditional markets, wind bells and local communities, down to the very ordinary sounds of daily routines, can become part of the travel experience itself.

The choice of a story-led short film also gives KTO the opportunity to communicate this idea emotionally rather than simply explaining it. Rather than telling audiences to embrace the Dailycation travel behaviour, the campaign allows viewers to experience that change in perspective through its characters, creating a more reflective and immersive destination story.

Creatively Challenging Visitors To Open Up To The Sounds

One of the memorable ideas introduced early in the film is the contrast between “someone hearing Korea for the first time” and “someone all too familiar with its sounds.”

Later, the narration reflects, “Standing in the same place, we began hearing different Koreas.”

It neatly captures both the film and the wider Dailycation travel behaviour running through the overall campaign. One is hearing Korea for the first time, while the other has become so familiar with its everyday sounds that he has almost stopped noticing them.

That is why sound works as the campaign’s central creative device. Rather than simply showing viewers a sequence of places, the film uses the contrast between the two characters to show how slowing down and listening can reveal a different side of the same location.

Whilst a beautiful sensory audio experience, the short film also makes viewers contemplate how two people can be in the same place and experience it differently. It invites the public to ultimately come to Korea and experience their own journey by discovering those sounds that many Koreans have become indifferent to as simply the background noise of daily life.

The film works on more than one level. On the surface it is a destination campaign encouraging visitors to slow down and appreciate the everyday moments of Korea. Beneath that sits the quieter internal journey and transformation of Bo Gum’s character, whose perspective on his own home changes through the way Ki experiences it. It gives the campaign a surprisingly reflective quality without losing sight of its tourism objective.

As with Bo Gum’s character, whose perspective changes through the recordings shared by his sound collector friend, visitors are invited to discover that some of Korea’s most extraordinary experiences can be found in the ordinary moments of everyday life.

Isn’t a Non-Traditional Tourism Video Risky?

On paper, making sound the main character of a tourism video, and bypassing South Korea’s world-famous historic landmarks and traditional locations that many internal stakeholders would naturally hope to see given a platform, might seem like a creative risk.

But the Korea Tourism Organization’s approach is not suggesting that the traditional destination marketing playbook needs a complete overhaul. Instead, what they are doing is diversifying it, introducing a more sophisticated, sensory-led approach alongside more established forms of destination marketing.

Importantly, this does not mean the campaign abandons Korea’s visual appeal. Throughout the film, viewers are still treated to striking landscapes and memorable locations, from the dramatic granite riverbed at Yoseonam Rock and the sunrise over Hwasan Village to the coastal scenery of Tando Port. The difference is that these locations support the journey rather than dominate it. Through this creative direction, KTO challenges the assumption that only iconic landmarks and spectacular scenery should be the heroes of destination marketing campaigns, suggesting instead that some of a destination’s most memorable experiences can also be found in the ordinary moments of everyday life.

As the wider campaign demonstrates, this reflective short film is only one part of a much broader marketing strategy built around K-drama star power, fan engagement and visitor conversion.

The Power of Strategic Soft Power

So yes, the audio side of the campaign is an interesting departure from a more traditional tourism advert. But the traditional destination marketing formula is still very much there when it comes to platforming Korea’s soft power. According to KTO’s own research, just under one in two potential international travellers first became interested in visiting South Korea through Korean television programmes and entertainment content.

Rather than placing Park Bo Gum at the centre of a more conventional celebrity-led tourism campaign, KTO builds a contemplative audio storytelling journey around him. His star power still draws audiences in, but instead of simply presenting destinations, he becomes part of a short film that encourages viewers to slow down, listen and experience Korea differently.

The timing is also significant. When Life Gives You Tangerines became one of Netflix’s most successful non-English language series of the year, reaching the Top 10 in dozens of countries and introducing Bo Gum to an even wider international audience. Rather than relying on celebrity alone, KTO pairs one of Korea’s strongest cultural exports with a creative approach shaped by behavioural insight.

Returning for a second year as Honorary Tourism Ambassador, Park Bo Gum previously fronted KTO’s 2025 campaign, which featured an original promotional song, reflecting his career as both an actor and singer.

Screen-Powered Destination Marketing

Rather than placing Park Bo Gum at the centre of a more conventional celebrity-led tourism campaign, KTO builds a contemplative short film around him. His star power still draws audiences in, but instead of simply presenting destinations, he becomes part of a story that encourages viewers to slow down, listen and experience Korea differently.

This campaign follows a screen-powered destination marketing framework. Rather than relying on filming locations or scenes from a popular television series, it uses Park Bo Gum’s cultural reach to draw audiences into an original tourism film. The screen star draws the audience in, while the creative gives form to KTO’s behavioural insight about a new generation of travellers seeking the ordinary moments of everyday Korean life.

Turning Viewers into Participants

Running until 19 August 2026, the organisation’s interactive Sound Quiz: Where in Korea? challenges viewers to listen carefully to the film and identify one of the featured sounds. Rather than simply watching the campaign, audiences are encouraged to engage with it, listen more closely and return to the film.

Participants are then invited to submit their answer through an official Google Form after commenting on YouTube. In doing so, KTO transforms passive viewers into active participants while creating a valuable database of highly engaged prospective visitors.

Qualifying High-Intent Travellers

KTO is not allowing this beautifully produced short film to sit passively on YouTube. Within its first two weeks, Begin to Hear Korea had already attracted more than 723,000 views and almost 5,000 likes, while generating lively discussion across the comments section.

The campaign culminates in the Korea Sound Journey event, taking place in Seoul on 2 October 2026, where 100 selected winners will take part in a guided sound walk followed by a talk with Park Bo Gum. But perhaps the cleverest piece of destination marketing lies in how the competition itself has been structured.

All on-site activities are conducted in English, creating a shared international experience. At the same time, winners are responsible for arranging and funding their own flights, accommodation and travel expenses. In practice, this means the campaign is likely to attract people who are already committed to travelling to South Korea and willing to invest in making the journey, rather than casual competition entrants.

Taken together, the campaign demonstrates that while the creative route may be unconventional, the marketing fundamentals remain firmly in place. Great storytelling sits alongside star power, audience engagement and a carefully designed conversion strategy, creating a campaign that not only captures attention but also identifies and activates highly motivated future visitors.