"Watching Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in's Matches, Enjoying Yoga and Climbing"... Overseas Travel Shifts to Shopping and Tourist Spots

Expansion of Unique and Customized Travel Products Targeting the MZ Generation
Popular Experience Programs Accompanied by Influencers

The travel industry is strengthening travel products targeted at people with similar hobbies and interests. Notable examples include highlighting ticket sales for matches featuring soccer players active overseas such as Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in, and Kim Min-jae, as well as unique programs where participants can experience activities like rock climbing, yoga, and motorsports with experts. Instead of the conventional, monotonous packages focused on shopping and visiting famous local tourist spots, there is a growing trend to combine travel with specific fields, targeting 'deokhu'?enthusiasts with passion and interest beyond that of experts.

Son Heung-min (center, Tottenham) is celebrating after scoring his 100th goal in the English Premier League (EPL) last April.
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

According to the industry on the 18th, the global travel and leisure platform Klook is selling tickets for the 2023?2024 season home games of German professional soccer club FC Bayern Munchen, where national team defender Kim Min-jae plays, to domestic fans. Those planning to travel to Germany or wishing to watch Bundesliga matches live can easily make reservations in Korean through the Klook application (app). Previously, a ticket reservation system was also introduced for home games of Tottenham Hotspur, where Son Heung-min plays, and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Lee Kang-in’s French professional soccer team. Lee Junho, head of Klook Korea, stated, "As our players stand out on the global stage, we recognized the demand for overseas sports game attendance early on."

This differentiated business strategy is a foothold to expand the young customer base, including the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), entering the travel market. An industry insider said, "The younger generation prefers unique experiences or creating 'my own memories' through travel rather than visiting well-known destinations," adding, "They show curiosity about travel experiences of famous personalities known through YouTube or social networking services (SNS) rather than products where travel agencies lead the itinerary."

For this reason, major travel agencies are competitively launching 'experience'-type travel products featuring influencers. Modetour introduced the 'Hong Kong Concept Tour' themed 'Healing Yoga Hong Kong Trip' with 'Yoga Boy,' who has about 460,000 YouTube subscribers. Concept tours are planned products launched by Modetour in June last year, where travelers go on trips with influencers from various fields.

The first Hong Kong Concept Tour held in May aimed for premium experiences, including stays at the highest-end boutique hotels locally costing over 1 million KRW per night. Despite the high price, more than 200 people made reservations within 30 seconds of sales opening, leading to an early sell-out. The company explained that 90% of the reservations were from the MZ generation, indicating high popularity among young people.

Interpark Triple formed a Special Interest Travel (SIT) team specializing in unique and themed travel products and launched expert-accompanied programs targeting enthusiasts of rock climbing, world runs, and motorcycles. A representative product is the climbing experience in Krabi, Thailand, with sports climbing athlete Kim Ja-in and participants.

Additionally, Hanatour attracted attention by offering tours through its high-end customized travel brand 'Zeus World' that include watching and playing rounds at 'The Open,' the world’s oldest golf tournament, and attending the prestigious tennis tournament 'Wimbledon' with a tourtel (guided tour + hotel). Zeus World, which handles luxury products, saw its sales in the first half of this year increase by 502% compared to the same period last year.

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