Meet BTS J-Hope Mural and Gorae Culture Village in the Metaverse

Korea Tourism Organization Creates 'Korea Tourism Theme World' Series on Zepeto
Local Government Worlds Featuring Secret Forest and Kkumdori Train Also Unveiled

Gwangju K-POP Star Street. Photo by Gwangju City

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ulsan Whale Culture Village, which became a famous spot due to the popularity of the drama 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo,' and Hop World murals in Gwangju, the hometown of BTS member J-Hope, will be created in the metaverse virtual world.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 10th that they will collaborate with local governments to launch a Korean Tourism Theme World series on Zepeto, Asia's largest metaverse platform, to promote regional tourism.

This series was produced targeting Generation Z, who are familiar with digital communication and interaction, especially in Asia, a major inbound market. Users visiting Zepeto's Korean Tourism Theme World can enjoy attractive Korean tourism content linked with K-culture in the form of games and other playful activities. The plan is to have users experience Korean tourism content through games and play, thereby recognizing Korea as a 'country they want to visit and experience.'

The series includes a total of eight themes. Users become 'Travel Hunter-K,' exploring Korean tourist sites with their avatars and adventuring through the Korean Theme Worlds. For this series, 33 local governments nationwide participated in selecting representative tourist attractions, planning themes, and collecting materials for creating the virtual spaces.

Travel Hunter K Event. Photo by Korea Tourism Organization

The eight theme worlds reflect regional tourism resources such as a commemorative sculpture engraved with the handwritten autograph and fan message of BTS member J-Hope from Gwangju, and the Ulsan Whale Culture Village, which has recently surged in popularity due to the drama 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo.'

Additionally, based on a preference survey of Zepeto users, five local government worlds (Chungbuk's 'Lake World,' Chuncheon’s 'Dakgalbi Village,' Samcheok’s 'Secret Forest,' Daejeon’s 'Kkumdori Hill,' and Yeonggwang’s 'Love Reunited Sangsa Flower') will be unveiled in December, highlighting regional characteristics.

To celebrate the series opening, various events targeting foreigners will be held for about a month until the 4th of next month. Outstanding participants will receive round-trip airfare to travel both in the metaverse Korea and real-life Korea.

Sooyoung Ho, head of the Digital Innovation Team at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "We hope this will be an opportunity to introduce various regional tourist destinations in Korea to the growing global metaverse platform users and spark their interest." He added, "We will strive to provide diverse Korean tourism content through collaboration with local governments so that the metaverse can become a sustainable marketing channel."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.