The recent travel reality TV programmes ‘Youth over Flowers’ and ‘Grandpas over Flowers’ aired in South Korea affected the travel plans of more than half of Koreans who watched the shows, a survey has found.
The Korea Tourism Organization conducted the poll and found 84% had watched the TV series and over 64% said it prompted a decision to travel overseas.
The tvN series featured the adventures of a group of celebrities travelling through Europe, Taiwan, Laos and Peru.
The survey polled over 1,000 Koreans over 18 who had traveled overseas before.
It also found that 36.3% of Koreans travel individually and 28.4% in a group spending an average of 5.4 days overseas, compared to 6.5 days last year.
One of the standout findings was an increase in Koreans visiting Japan, which grew from 17.9% last year to 22.8% in 2014, likely due to decreasing holiday costs because of the falling value of the Japanese Yen.
