Tourist draws

There are Filipinos, mostly millennials and Gen Zs, who readily blow a month's salary or school allowance on trips overseas just to watch K-pop bands.

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And they're not alone. Tickets to the top bands are quickly snapped up online in other countries, so fans must be ready to compete as soon as the e-ticket platforms open, which could be at ungodly hours.

It's not just concert tickets. There's a booming industry in K-pop merch. You see the stuff everywhere, from major shopping malls to flea markets.

So I wasn't surprised to learn that since the start of the year, there's been an unusual surge in visa applications for South Korea. And yes, Korean Ambassador Lee Sang-hwa confirmed - the top reason given is to watch the free comeback concert in Seoul of K-pop super group BTS on March 21.

Nearly 300,000 fans are expected to descend on Seoul for the band's first full-group performance in nearly four years.

Within the first minutes of the booking website's opening, screens crashed as over 100,000 flooded the platform.

K-pop, with its distinctive riffs and choreography, has become a major tourist draw and cultural export for South Korea, along with K-drama. Hallyu, the Korean wave, has conquered the world, promoting Korean cuisine, fashion, cosmetics and looks. In the Philippines, Korean dining places have mushroomed. (Bonchon's snow cheese fried chicken is my current favorite, and has been copied by several fast-food chains).

Last Feb. 1, Huntrix became the first Korean band to win a Grammy, bagging the Best Song Written for Visual Media for "Golden," from the monster hit animation movie "KPop Demon Hunters." When I visited the Gyeongbokgung palace in Seoul last November, it was teeming with foreign tourists, many of whom were posing for pictures clad in rented traditional hanbok attire at the settings for many of the period K-drama movies, TV shows and two of the BTS music videos.

Filipinos' enchantment with many things Korean makes the 77th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries this March 3 an event that truly merits celebration.