Netflix turns everyday Korea into tourist attraction

On Tuesday, Zineb Baaout, a Moroccan-born travel content creator based in the U.S., posted an Instagram Reel showing her trip to Ttukseom Hangang Park in Seoul, where she enjoyed a bowl of instant noodles. She wrote to her followers: “600 K-dramas later, I finally got to see the hype around eating Ramyeon and watching the sunset at the Han River in person.” What used to be a humble late-night ritual for locals has now become a bucket-list experience for visitors. Driven by global Over-The-Top (OTT) streaming platforms, most notably Netflix, tourists are flocking to Korea in growing numbers and shifting away from traditional landmark-hopping to immerse themselves in the everyday lifestyles, convenience store eats and neighborhood haunts featured in Korean dramas. Korean dramas and idol groups such as BTS and BLACKPINK had already fueled global interest in Korean culture and tourism before Netflix entered the Korean market a decade ago. Yet the volume of tourists and the diversity of travel content inspired by Korean popular culture have grown exponentially with the rise of the strea