How BTS’ Arirang World Tour Can Revive Global Economies, Tourism

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Arirang World Tour is about to take the world by storm. BTS is on its big comeback tour in 2026 with a brand new album and a world tour. Fans are going to be travelling from all over the globe to see their K-pop idols again. After Harry Styles and Taylor Swift, the BTS upcoming Arirang world tour is likely to set global economies and tourism soaring, and the ARMY is going to make sure not miss a minute of their long-awaited comeback. Here’s how Arirang is boosting tourism through hotels, transportation, and other consumerism in countries around the world.

About the Arirang World Tour

The BTS Arirang World Tour begins on April 9, 2026, in their home country at the Goyang Sports Complex Main Stadium. The seven-member K-pop boy band is made up of members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, all of whom completed their mandatory military training in South Korea in June 2025.

BTS will tour 34 cities in North America, Europe, South America, and Asia for 82 shows. Fans will get a chance to hear new music from the group for the first time as their fifth full-length album, ARIRANG, will be released on March 20, 2026, at 1 pm. The new album will have 14 tracks, which are said to deal with songs about identity, longing, and, of course, love. The last time BTS held a proper world tour was in October 2019.

BTS is huge draw in tourism to South Korea

After BTS announced their Arirang tour, searches for travel to Seoul, South Korea, increased by 155 per cent in the 48 hours, according to Hotels.com. Additionally, searches for Busan, the next stop for June concerts, rose by an incredible 2,375 per cent. Travellers are mainly arriving from Asian countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan and within South Korea, searches for travel to Seoul and Busan rose to 190 and 3,855 per cent respectively.

The K-pop group have effectively become the face of South Korea. Last year’s National Image Survey of South Korea, published by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, revealed BTS as the Korean group with the most positive impact on the country’s image. Band member Jungkook was named sixth on the list of solo artists creating impact.

BTS boost to international tourism and economies

Not just South Korea, but other countries are seeing the ‘BTS effect. A Brazilian news radio station, BandNews FM, reported that searches for bus tickets to São Paulo have increased by more than 600 times, as per transportation platform ClickBus, for their concert in October 2026.

The Guardian also shared that the BTS world tour will increase demand for tourism, hotels and other consumer spending for the North American cities hosting the concerts. The British newspaper cited financial services firm Bread Financial in analysing that a single concert ticket generates more than three times the average consumption effect in the local economy. But the BTS impact is going to be far greater than that figure, and the total economic impact can only be judged properly once the tour is over.