The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister YU In Chon, MCST) in collaboration with the Korea Tourism Organization (Acting President SEO Young Choong, KTO) hosted the 2024 K-Link Festival on October 5, 6:00 PM at the Inspire Resort Arena in Incheon in celebration of the 2023-2024 Visit Korea Year.

K-Link Festival,  held for the second time since its launch last year, hosted under the theme “Connecting the World and Korea through K-culture” and bring together over 12,000 participants – 10,000 foreign tourists who have traveled to Korea to enjoy the performances and 2,000 fans in Korea. Seven popular K-pop groups, including The Boyz, RIIZE, Minho of SHINee, aespa, NCT Wish, ITZY, and tripleS, will present spectacular performances that combine K-culture with tourism.

This year’s event is particularly significant as it was organized in cooperation with the Korea Tourism Organization’s overseas branches and the travel sector leveraging the high level of interest in K-culture from overseas, with more than 10,000 Hallyu (Korean Wave) fans from China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas planning to visit Korea. 

In addition to the performances, K-culture experience zones also offered activities around themes such as beauty, dance, traditional culture, and tourism in Korea. During the event, videos featuring tripleS promoted Korea’s traditional culture experience programs and travel destinations. From 1:00 PM, before the beginning of the main performance, Inspire Convention Hall opened its K-culture experience zone to offer a memorable experience for visiting foreign tourists. 

The K-Performance Zone showcased special performances by rookie idols, while the K-Play Zone offered photo-taking sessions and virtual reality (VR) dance experiences. The K-Content Zone offered a chance for visitors to try on hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) and play traditional games, while the K-Link Zone provided promotional information on tourism in Korea provided by the Korea Tourism Organization and the Visit Korea Committee.

Moreover, the backdrop of the performance stages highlighted famous Korean tourist destinations, including Seoul's five grand palaces, Busan's Gwangandaegyo Bridge, and Gyeongju's Cheomseongdae Observatory, along with spots well-known for night tourism, as well as symbolic sights and features of Korea, including its four seasons and natural landscapes, traditional cultural elements like dancheong (traditional decorative coloring on wooden roof structures), jogakbo (traditional Korean patchwork), Hangeul (the Korean alphabet), and traditional patterns. The event also showed a video where tripleS members in hanbok shared their experiences visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace's Saenggwabang (where desserts and refreshments were prepared for the Joseon royal household) and Bukchon Hanok Village.

Strategically blending K-culture and tourism to highlight Korea’s appeal as an attractive travel destination

“This event, organized as part of the 2023-2024 Visit Korea Campaign, is significant in that it brings together over 10,000 foreign tourists who love K-culture by showcasing a variety of K-culture elements, including K-pop, beauty, and traditional culture,” said MCST 2^nd Vice Minister JANG Mi Ran. “Moving forward, we will continue to attract foreign tourists by integrating our unique content with tourism, offering them a variety of sights and experiences, and working to make Korea a “must-visit” and “must-return” destination.”

The 2024 K-Link Festival was live on SBS Media Net's YouTube channel The K-POP on October 5. It will also be aired on SBS's main terrestrial channel and on SBS cable channels F!L and SBS M on October 11.