SOUTH Koreans have 'fallen in love' with Spain thanks to a TV comedy aired in the country featuring four elderly actors visiting various cities in the country.
Ggot Boda Halbe ('grandparents/the elderly are better than flowers', a parody of the soap opera titled Boys are better than flowers) has broken audience records in the east Asian country and travel agencies say requests for flights or package holidays to Spain have rocketed since it was first broadcast.
The eight episodes of the latest series, which started in March, shows actors and actresses Lee Soon-Jae, Shin Goo, Park Geun-Hyung and Baek Il-Seop, led by 43-year-old presenter Lee Seo-Jin taking tours of Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada, Segovia and Ronda – cities which thousands of South Koreans, over 10,000 kilometres away, have now begun to book tickets to visit.
A 24-year-old student, who is studying Spanish at a South Korean university, said he had 'always wanted' to go to Spain, but the sight of Madrid with its Neo-Classical architecture on the popular show pushed him to book a flight for August this year.
And such has been the demand, according to South Korean newspaper Kookmin, that a charter flight between Seoul and Barcelona run by Asian Airlines has opened and will take off for the first time on June 20.
Already, in the first four months of this year, nearly 60,000 South Koreans have visited Spain – an annual increase of over two per cent – and last year saw a rise of 15 per cent in the number of holidaymakers from Asia's fourth-richest nation.
South Koreans who come to Spain spend an average of 1,924 euros per visit – 233 euros a day, including hotel fees, transport, excursions, eating out, and buying souvenirs and other goods – which amounts to three times the typical amount spent by tourists of every other nationality.
Unlike many of Spain's typical holidaymakers, the South Koreans tend not to opt for 'sun, sea and sand' breaks but seek out cultural visits, with urban tourism in Madrid and Barcelona – particularly the Gaudí monuments – and tapas-hopping and the Alhambra Palace in Granada being popular options.
But according to a survey by Korean Air, the all-time favourite pursuit in Spain is the famous Camino de Santiago – the ancient pilgrims' route which starts at various points in Portugal, France and Spain, the shortest being 100 kilometres, and ends at the spectacular cathedral in the city of Santiago de Compostela in the far north-western region of Galicia.
South Korea is home to over five million practising Catholics, meaning the Santiago pilgrimage also takes on a spiritual quest as well as just being an exciting and unique type of off-the-beaten-track holiday.
Spanish authorities expect to see South Korean tourists visiting the country break all records this year, and predict that by the end of December, around 150,000 of them will have travelled to Spain in 2014.
