South Korea is launching a visa specifically for people who want to train like K-pop stars — and the move is part of a broader plan to push international tourist numbers back to pre-COVID-19 levels.
What Is the K-Culture Training Visa?
Named the "K-Culture Training Visa," the programme is designed for foreigners who want hands-on experience in K-pop dancing, choreography, and modeling, according to South Korea's finance ministry. Applicants are not required to have auditioned for — or received a callback from — a talent agency at the outset. More detailed requirements were set to be announced later in 2024.
The visa targets a clear gap: hundreds of thousands of Hallyu fans travel to South Korea every year specifically to be closer to Korean pop culture, yet no dedicated pathway existed to facilitate extended training stays.
ASEAN Tourists in the Spotlight
Seoul is particularly keen to attract visitors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). By 2023, South Korea had become one of the most sought-after destinations for travellers from countries like Thailand and the Philippines — markets where travel visas have traditionally been tightly controlled. The K-Culture Training Visa is partly aimed at easing that friction.
The Hallyu Wave Effect on Tourism
The Korean Wave — known in Korean as "Hallyu" — describes the global spread of Korean cultural products that began in the late 1990s and has accelerated sharply over the past decade. K-pop acts such as BTS and Blackpink have built massive international fan bases, and Korean dramas now air in markets far beyond Asia.
K-pop is already the single most frequently cited motivation for visiting South Korea, drawing fans from Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States. That cultural pull has been strategically embedded in travel marketing for years — Korean Air's safety video featuring SuperM being one of the better-known examples.
South Korea's Tourism Numbers Still Below 2019 Levels
Despite the Hallyu boom, South Korea's tourism industry has struggled to fully recover. The country welcomed approximately 11 million international tourists in 2023 — significantly higher than 2022, but still well short of the 17.5 million recorded in 2019. Revenue also fell short of targets, with Chinese tourist spending dropping dramatically: from around $20 billion in 2019 to roughly $1 billion in 2023. The shortfall reflects a broader shift in Chinese travel patterns toward cultural experiences over shopping.
The K-Culture Training Visa is part of a larger government strategy, which also includes K Culture events and road shows across the US and Sweden in 2024, as well as investments in English-language visitor services and AI-powered transport booking tools. Seoul's long-term target is 30 million annual tourists and $30 billion in tourism revenue by 2027.
