How BTS’s ‘Arirang in Goyang’ Concert Attracted Global Fans and Revived Local Businesses

Translation result.

We checked into our hotel the night before the show. With the weather gorgeous today, we spent the morning strolling across Ilsan, popping into shops, and soaking up the neighborhood vibe — I had no idea there were such beautiful, bustling towns just outside Seoul.
At Ilsan Cultural Park in Goyang on the 11th — where BTS staged the second night of their first world tour, Arirang in Goyang — 18-year-old Japanese fan Mio Sakurai told us she and her mother flew into Incheon and came straight to Goyang for the concert. After the show they plan to spend the final day of their trip in Seoul.

With weekend temperatures climbing to about 20°C (around 68°F), Goyang felt electric — the crowds of international fans gave the streets a Hongdae-or-Seongsu-like energy.

Ilsan’s shopping and dining hubs — Western Dom and La Festa — and the station-area businesses in Daehwa-dong near Goyang Sports Complex were packed, with foreign visitors spilling into restaurants and onto the sidewalks.

“Young women poured in,” one cosmetics store employee said. “At first I thought they were local, but when I saw them using translation apps and halting Korean, I realized this was the BTS effect.”

While many fans came from nearby countries like Japan, Taiwan and Singapore, there were also visitors who’d traveled from faraway places such as the U.S. and Europe.

They were mostly young women traveling with friends, and mother-daughter duos were a common sight. Some parents who came along couldn’t secure tickets and spent the concert hours waiting around the venue.

On both the opening night (the 9th) and the evening of the 11th, cafes near Goyang Sports Complex buzzed with foreign parents waiting for their kids, and convenience stores enjoyed an unexpected surge each concert night.

One Daehwa-dong convenience store reported beverage sales increased by more than 200% across the 9th and 11th.

Overall, the concerts gave Goyang’s local economy a major boost. Hotels of every stripe — from big chains to motels and youth hostels — were fully booked during the event.

Restaurants near the venue, the upscale Anigol dining district, and shopping strips in Hwajeong-dong and Samsong-dong in Deogyang-gu were filled with tourists who arrived by charter bus.

While KINTEX typically energizes only the nearby economy during large expos, this concert literally supported businesses across the whole city.

City officials initially expected about 120,000 visitors over the three concerts, but after counting families, travel-agency staff, and domestic visitors who came for the atmosphere, they now estimate roughly 150,000 people turned out.

Although the opening night on the 9th saw chilly rain and evening traffic jams that strained the area, the larger weekend crowd on the 11th remained orderly and the shows wrapped up without major incidents.

The final concert kicks off at 7:00 p.m. on the 13th.

Goyang has also set up a disaster and safety operations center with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Gyeonggi Province, police, fire services and other agencies, and is maintaining tight safety oversight through the end of the events.