MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Released on October 24 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), the clips were viewed estimated 225.3 million times as of November 30 at 5:00 pm.
Among the five clips, What if [Vincent Van Gogh] visited Korea, which is the very first Korea tourism promotional clip produced using generative AI, recorded the highest number of views at 59.88 million. The video was praised for its creativity in introducing Korea’s representative tourist destinations through the style of 11 world-class painters (Van Gogh, Munch, Monet, etc.).
It took six months to make the clip, using new digital technologies, including training the generative AI more than 80,000 times for each work to make them appear more naturally in each painter’s style.
Also, there are three local tourism promotional clips inspired by global K-contents: Live Squid Game, which features a squid-catching game set on Ulleungdo Island; Queendom: Korean Archery, a chase game held at Suwon Hwaseong Fortress; and Guardian’s Fireworks, which presents the beautiful and romantic scene of Haman Nakhwanori. These clips were created to allow visitors to experience the unique and attractive tourism elements of each region.
The last clip, Korea Never Forgets, was produced based on the touching true story of the Campagna couple who carefully cared for Korean tourists stranded in a snowstorm in the United States last winter. It captures the Campagna couple’s trip to Korea in a documentary format, and even delivers the touching message that “Korea never forgets gratitude.”
In addition, thanks to the unprecedented success of Korea tourism promotional clips, the number of KTO YouTube subscribers has increased significantly by more than 150,000 from the previous year to 820,000 subscribers. It maintains the highest number of subscribers among all national tourism organization YouTube channels.
