First in the World Tourism Organization, Silver Button Achieved in 4 Years
The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization operate the overseas promotion YouTube channel 'Imagine Your Korea,' which has reached 1 million subscribers.
Korea Tourism Organization YouTube channel 'Imagine Your Korea'. [Photo by Korea Tourism Organization]
The Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 21st that the promotional YouTube channel 'Imagine Your Korea,' created to promote Korean tourism overseas, has surpassed 1 million subscribers and received the Gold Play Button.
This achievement comes four years after surpassing 100,000 subscribers in March 2020 and receiving the Silver Play Button. Korea is also the first among all NTOs (National Tourism Organizations) worldwide to receive the Gold Play Button for surpassing 1 million YouTube subscribers.
Since its launch in June 2011, the channel has uploaded a total of 789 Korean tourism promotional videos as of the 20th, accumulating 3.6 billion views and surpassing 1 million subscribers (as of 3 PM on the 20th).
'Imagine Your Korea' has continuously showcased unique tourism content, including the 'Feel the Rhythm of Korea' series, which sparked a YouTube viewership sensation with videos like 'Beom Naeryeonda' and 'Mud Max,' various trendy short-form videos introducing attractive regional tourism spots across Korea, and innovative Korean tourism promotional videos created using generative AI.
Targeting the global fandom that loves K-culture, the channel has also produced and released videos featuring the year's most popular Hallyu stars such as BTS, Lee Jung-jae, and Cha Eun-woo. In 2023, the four 'Challenge Korea' videos starring actor Lee Jung-jae recorded 540 million views, the highest ever for overseas advertising campaigns.
As of the 20th, when Korea surpassed 1 million subscribers, the subscriber rankings of other countries' tourism promotion YouTube channels were ▲T?rkiye (978,000 subscribers) ▲France (482,000 subscribers) ▲Singapore (354,000 subscribers) ▲Qatar (225,000 subscribers). Recently, countries worldwide have been intensifying efforts to attract foreign tourists by releasing various promotional videos following the full-scale resumption of international tourism after the pandemic.
Yoo Jin-ho, Head of the Tourism Content Strategy Division at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "Achieving 1 million YouTube subscribers first among all NTOs worldwide is very significant at a time when competition for tourism attraction is intensifying again. This year, we will continue to capture the diverse charms of Korean tourism in videos and spread them worldwide to expand Korea tourism’s potential fandom and make every effort to achieve the goal of attracting 20 million inbound tourists in 2024."
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