Daegu frustrated in bid to boost BTS tourism

Social Affairs

Published: 13 Jun. 2023, 18:19

Daegu frustrated in bid to boost BTS tourism

A mural dedicated to BTS member Suga in Daegu’s Nam District. Suga’s real name is Min Yoon-gi. [DAEGU METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

When the Seoul Metropolitan Government recently unveiled plans to capitalize on the 10th anniversary of BTS by sponsoring a festival celebrating the K-pop group, no city was more excited than Daegu.

Two of the boy band’s seven members were born in the southeastern metropolitan city, giving Daegu reason to believe that it could highlight the connection and take advantage of the anniversary celebrations to boost tourism.

Murals of V and Suga in the city, located about 240 kilometers (149 miles) southeast of Seoul, were to be the centerpiece of a BTS tour package that would hopefully attract fans from across the world. The mural projects were led by the individual members' fan clubs.

Shortly thereafter, it became clear that these plans were nothing more than wishful thinking.

“We reached out to BTS’s management company through an agency that organizes fan club events to ask about the plan,” an official at Daegu’s Seo District Office told the JoongAng Ilbo this month.

“We were told by the agency that the management company was okay with the fan clubs creating murals, but was opposed to local government offices like Daegu promoting them as tourist attractions.”

It was not the first time Daegu was turned down.

According to the official, the Daegu Metropolitan Government had previously issued a press release outlining their intentions to develop a BTS-themed tourism course in the city. That idea did not last long either as the management company demanded the plan be abandoned, citing concerns about potential infringement of publicity rights.

A fan takes a photo of BTS member V's mural in Daegu’s Seo District. [YONHAP]

What essentially sets Seoul apart from Daegu is that BTS is Seoul’s honorary tourism ambassador. The K-pop boy band has promoted the capital city for years through numerous events and campaigns.

The so-called 2023 BTS FESTA, sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and organized by HYBE, BTS’s management company, kicked off on Monday and will run through June 25.

The main event of Seoul’s BTS festival is slated for Saturday at Yeouido Hangang Park in Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul, where booths showcasing the group’s “past, present and future” will be set up, the Seoul city government announced in a press release.

As for Daegu, officials said they were searching for ways to legally put the city on fans' radar.

Even without any official publicity, Daegu’s Nam District Office, which oversees a mural of Suga, estimates about 10,000 people have visited the wall painting ever since it was completed last November. The mural was entirely funded by Suga’s fan club.

V’s mural, located in Daegu’s Seo District, was suggested in 2021 by his Chinese fan club, which offered 30 million won ($24,000) towards the cost. The Seo District Office later spent an additional 35 million won to extend the mural.

BY BAEK KYUNG-SEO, LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]