The Korea Tourism Organization announced the “K‑Local Food Hunters 33” project in June, promoting Korean food culture through more than 900 pieces of content. The campaign aims to enhance local tourism value by leveraging culinary culture, which is a major factor for foreigners deciding to travel.
The organization invited 33 influencers from 13 countries—including China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Gulf—who experienced three regions: Gangwon, Jeju, and Gyeongsang, each for four nights and five days.
After the experience, each influencer introduced representative foods and tourist spots they had encountered on social‑media channels such as Instagram, TikTok, Xiaohongshu, and YouTube with videos and photos. The more than 900 pieces of content accumulated over 10 million views; the video by a Vietnamese influencer titled “Hanwoo Myeotgi” recorded 447,000 views. The traditional foods and cultural practices shown in the video aroused foreigners’ curiosity and received strong interest. Influencers from France also created content challenging them to try different foods such as bunde-gi and seonji, which drew high responses from overseas viewers.
Through this project, the organization plans to link the heightened interest in K‑food to actual tourism by staging a global online event on the “VisitKorea” platform. The event will be conducted in four languages—English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean—and will provide highlight videos from previous projects, region‑specific content, and the “Local Food Hunters 33” line, aiming to stimulate potential visitors’ interest and encourage actual visits.
Korea Tourism Headquarters Director Min Byeong-seon said, “Through this project, we were able to confirm K‑food’s global competitiveness,” adding, “We will continue to showcase how the online event converts enthusiasm into actual tourism.”