The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2020–2022
KTO's viral pansori-dance videos sell Korea to fans who can't travel
With travel frozen by COVID-19, Korea's tourism body released 100-second pansori-pop dance videos shot at real landmarks — 500M+ viewers, 2M+ TikTok covers.
Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) · Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
What it had to solve
In 2020 COVID-19 closed Korea to international tourists: nobody could fly, so a classic scenic travel film had little to sell. KTO, with the Culture Ministry, instead made the video itself the product. In late July 2020, three 1:40 clips appeared on KTO's 'Imagine Your Korea' YouTube channel: band Leenalchi reworks pansori into catchy pop while Ambiguous Dance Company's goblin dancers perform at real landmarks in Seoul, Busan and Jeonju.
How it works
Confronted with closed borders in 2020, KTO decided that its promotional film could not rely on people planning trips. It released three 100-second music-video-style clips for Seoul, Busan and Jeonju in late July 2020, pairing Leenalchi's pop reinterpretations of pansori with Ambiguous Dance Company's goblin dancers performing at real landmarks.
The films behaved like entertainment: they passed 30 million YouTube views in mid-August alone and more than 80 million across YouTube, Facebook and TikTok in roughly three weeks, spreading through 12 Asian countries. Fans began copying the dance, and KTO's IYKoongChallenge on TikTok collected more than 2 million cover videos in a two-week round, ending in a livestreamed final with K-pop acts.
By early December 2020 KTO counted more than 500 million viewers of the series, which also won the Tourism Innovation Award at the summit in Seville. The concept outlived the lockdown: city clips were added through 2020-2021 and again in May 2022, and by then the Busan video alone had exceeded 53 million YouTube views.
Why it lands
- The films were entertainment first: people watched and shared pansori-pop dance videos even with no trip to plan, earning attention at a moment when classic travel ads had no immediate use.
- The choreography was copyable: simple enough for fans to imitate, which turned viewers into the cast of millions of TikTok covers and made the audience the distribution channel.
- Culture, not scenery, was the hook: remixed traditional music gave Korea a distinct and memorable image abroad instead of interchangeable landmark footage.
- One proven format scaled: dance, music and a city's landmarks were enough of a template for KTO to roll the series out to more destinations across years.
What it did
The clips spread like entertainment, not advertising: over August 4-14 they passed 30 million YouTube views, and with Facebook and TikTok topped 80 million across 12 Asian countries. By August 21 each video had 13.5-15.6 million YouTube views (Busan 15.59M, Seoul 13.53M, Jeonju 13.81M). By early December KTO reported more than 500 million viewers; the IYKoongChallenge drew over 2 million TikTok covers; the campaign won the Tourism Innovation Award 2020 in Seville. Views kept compounding: by May 2022 the Busan clip alone had 53.21 million YouTube views.
What you can take
When the destination is unreachable, film the feeling, not the sights: music, dance and humor give viewers a reason to share and imitate — the audience becomes the campaign's promoters.
Since then
The one-off experiment became a long-running franchise. After Seoul, Busan and Jeonju, clips for Andong, Gangneung and Mokpo were added in late 2020, and on May 20, 2022 KTO released three more — Incheon under the theme 'Fun City', Pyeongchang with a lyrical piano piece, and Yeosu with dawn harbor scenes — each remixing a different kind of Korean music. The first-wave clips kept accumulating views as new ones launched, and the series became KTO's standard template for destination promotion rather than a single viral moment.
Sources
- Online dance competition to promote Korean tourism set for Saturday
- 서울·부산·전주 등 도시 관광 홍보 영상 화제 (Seoul, Busan, Jeonju tourism promo videos go viral)
- New KTO videos promote Incheon, Pyeongchang-gun County, Yeosu
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