Are we chasing tourists or attracting them? Lessons from South Korea

There is a fundamental difference between chasing tourists and attracting them. The distinction may seem minor, but it reflects two very different approaches to tourism.

Chasing treats tourism primarily as a sales exercise. Which markets should we target? How much should we spend on promotion? How many arrivals can we generate? Which campaign should we launch next?

Attraction asks a different question: What are we building here that gives people a reason to want to come? This shifts the focus from selling Sri Lanka to strengthening what we are offering - from a sales exercise to a product and ecosystem strategy.

The question is not simply how effectively we market Sri Lanka, but whether we are creating enough value and appeal for people to choose it.

This is where South Korea offers Sri Lanka a particularly valuable case study. It did not become a global tourism success story simply by advertising Seoul, its palaces or its landscapes more aggressively. It built an ecosystem in which culture itself became a driver of international demand.

South Korea recorded approximately 18.9 million international visitors in 2025, exceeding its pre-pandemic 2019 figure of 17.5 million. Tourism revenue reached approximately US$27.2 billion in 2025, up 10.4% from 2024.  Its tourism authorities are now targeting 30 million international visitors by 2028, with visitor spending projected to generate approximately US$39.8 billion in economic benefits for South Korea. 

The more interesting question, however, is not how many tourists South Korea attracts. It is why they want to go.

1. When culture sells the destination 

South Korea’s most powerful tourism asset emerged outside the traditional tourism sector.

K-pop, Korean dramas, cinema, food, beauty, fashion and other cultural industries were not created primarily to attract tourists. But as they gained global popularity, they created familiarity and curiosity about South Korea, which tourism could then convert into visits.

Someone who discovers South Korea through a television series may become interested in Korean food. A K-pop fan may want to attend a concert. Someone interested in Korean beauty may want to visit Seoul’s beauty districts. The country did not have to sell every element of South Korea independently. The elements began selling one another.

The Korea Tourism Organisation’s Imagine Your Korea brand, launched in 2014, reflects this integrated, multifaceted approach, bringing together K-Wave (popular culture), K-Food, K-Spirit (heritage and identity), K-Place (destinations) and K-Style (fashion, beauty and lifestyle).

The lesson is bigger than K-pop or K-dramas. Tourism does not operate in isolation. When culture, food, entertainment, beauty and other industries support one another, they can collectively create demand for the destination.

 South Korea recorded approximately 18.9 million international visitors in 2025, exceeding its pre-pandemic 2019 figure of 17.5 million. Tourism revenue reached approximately $ 27.2 billion

 in 2025, up 10.4% from 2024.  Its tourism authorities are now targeting 30 million international visitors by 2028, with visitor spending projected to generate approximately $ 39.8 billion in economic benefits for South Korea. The more interesting question, however, is not how many tourists South Korea attracts. It is why they want to go

This is destination ecosystem building, not simply destination marketing.

2. Turning attractions into experiences

We have the ingredients. But are they aligned? 

Sri Lanka has never lacked the building blocks of a strong tourism ecosystem: Ceylon Tea, cuisine, Ayurveda and wellness, wildlife, beaches, biodiversity, cricket, heritage, crafts and living culture.

But these often operate as separate tourism propositions. South Korea shows what happens when these elements are aligned around a broader destination proposition. Korean food, for example, gained global visibility through K-dramas and popular culture. Viewers see Korean barbecue, tteokbokki, fried chicken and ramyeon, creating interest in Korean cuisine before they visit. Tourism then builds on that interest through food tours, cooking experiences and traditional markets.

One cultural product creates interest in another, which creates interest in the destination. Sri Lanka could apply the same thinking. Some operators are already doing this. 

A visitor drawn to Ceylon Tea could move from a misty plantation to a tea factory, meet the families who work among the estates, taste a traditional meal and discover the colonial history and mountain communities that shaped the region. An Ayurveda traveller could go beyond a treatment to explore indigenous knowledge, local ingredients, food and the natural environment. 

A cricket fan could move from the stadium into Colombo’s streets, local food, sporting history and communities. A wildlife visitor could go beyond the safari into conservation, landscapes, local livelihoods and cuisine. And a heritage traveller could experience not just an ancient monument, but the crafts, food, rituals and living culture around it.

This is where the experience economy matters. People increasingly travel not simply to see places, but to experience, learn, taste, participate and connect.

The opportunity is to move beyond individual experiences – to align and scale what is already happening into a more integrated tourism proposition, giving visitors more reasons to stay, explore and spend.

3. From marketing the destination to creating demand

Sri Lanka recorded 2.3 million tourist arrivals in 2025, a 15.1% increase from 2024. Tourism earnings reached approximately $3.22 billion.

The next question is not simply whether arrivals are increasing, but - what brings visitors here, and what makes them stay longer, spend more and return? For years, we have said Sri Lanka needs high-spending tourists who stay for nine to ten days. But are we clearly communicating why they should?

Marketing can tell people that Sri Lanka has beaches, tea, wildlife, heritage and wellness. Creating demand makes someone think: “I want to experience that.”

This also means looking beyond geographical markets. Tourism strategies are often organised around India, China, the UK, Germany, Australia and other markets. Markets matter, but travel motivations can be more revealing.

A wellness traveller, wildlife enthusiast, gastronomy traveller or luxury traveller can come from any country. South Korea has increasingly built its tourism proposition around different motivations from K-pop and K-dramas to food, beauty, shopping, heritage, nature and wellness.

Sri Lanka has an opportunity to move from a market-led to a motivation-led tourism strategy. Instead of asking only, “How do we attract more tourists from country X?” we should also ask: “What kind of traveller are we trying to attract and what does Sri Lanka offer that this traveller cannot easily find elsewhere?”

The strategic question, therefore, is not simply which markets we should target, but what Sri Lanka can uniquely offer the travellers we want to attract.

4. From chasing reach to building advocates

South Korea offers a further lesson on how cultural influence can help a destination attract attention rather than repeatedly chase it.

Sri Lanka Tourism already reaches out to international journalists and influencers through its Visiting Journalist and Influencer Program. South Korea, however, has developed a more structured creator ecosystem that builds sustained engagement beyond individual visits.

According to South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, its K-influencer program, launched in 2020, selected 1,152 creators from 98 countries in 2026 for their 7th K-influencer cohort, after receiving 4,184 applications from 134 countries.

A structured creator ecosystem does more than generate reach. It gives the country a more sustained ability to shape its narrative. The issue is not whether Sri Lanka should invite influencers, but what happens after the invitation. 

Rather than relying on one-off publicity, the focus should be on building long-term relationships with credible journalists and creators who can become consistent advocates for Sri Lanka. Selection should go beyond follower numbers, with credibility, cultural sensitivity, values, relevance and audience quality considered alongside reach.

Recent tourism content showing a foreign DJ/blogger performing with a captive elephant in the foreground of Sigiriya is a useful reminder that not every viral moment is a good tourism moment. Views are easy to count - cultural sensitivity, animal welfare and the long-term value of the destination are harder to measure.

The goal is not to chase the biggest audiences, but to build the right network of voices capable of creating lasting interest in Sri Lanka.

5.The missing ingredient: continuity

There is one final lesson beneath South Korea’s success that Sri Lanka should not overlook: institutional continuity.

A compelling national tourism proposition cannot be rebuilt every few years. Brands take time. Consumer associations take time. International markets take time. Experiences take time to develop. Cultural influence takes even longer.

Sri Lanka does not need to copy South Korea. The South Korean model cannot simply be transplanted to Colombo. But we need to identify what is already uniquely Sri Lankan and build an ecosystem around it. That requires consistency.

The challenge, therefore, is not a lack of assets. It is aligning them into a stronger reason to choose Sri Lanka.

So, are we chasing or attracting?

The question Sri Lanka’s tourism industry needs to ask is simple: Are we chasing arrivals through campaigns and short-term targets or building a destination people actively want to experience?

There is nothing wrong with promotion. But promotion works best when it is supported by a strong destination proposition. If we want visitors to stay for nine to ten days, we need to give them reasons to stay, explore and spend.

For years, Sri Lanka has relied on campaigns, promotions and arrival targets to drive tourism. Changing this is neither simple nor immediate. Tourism is a complex ecosystem and building a stronger destination proposition requires time, coordination and institutional continuity.

But we cannot keep launching short-term campaigns and pray that we hit the numbers. We need a sustainable strategy that makes the numbers a result of what we have built.

Perhaps that is the shift the tourism sector now needs: from chasing arrivals to building an aligned destination product that people genuinely want to experience.

(The author is a strategic communications professional who worked with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) from 2018–2021)