BTS ARMY armed with $5.3B in spending power

For Maria Herrera, a utility employee from Vancouver, the trade-off to watch a performance by Kpop supergroup BTS on Saturday in Seoul was simple: Weeks of extra shifts at her job and roughly 5,000 Canadian dollars ($3,644) for a week in Seoul.

- BY CYNTHIA KIM

The 58-year-old was willing to make the trip without having secured concert tickets as she and her two daughters were looking forward to soaking up the pre-concert atmosphere and pampering themselves afterwards with Botox, haircuts and some Korean barbecue.

Maria and her daughters are part of a global wave that analysts at NH Investment & Securities say could generate a windfall of 8 trillion won ($5.32 billion) across the 44 cities that will host BTS' world tour - a phenomenon that they have dubbed “BTSnomics.”

“We don’t do our hair in Canada,” Maria said, emerging from a crowd of fellow ticketless “BTS ARMY” members waiting in the crisp air in downtown Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square 10 hours before the show. She added that because they were in Korea, they would treat themselves.