K-pop boy band BTS ‘worth $3.6 billion a year’ to South Korea’s economy

South Korean boy band BTS are worth more than $3.6 billion (Dh13.22bn) to the country’s economy every year, the Hyundai Research Institute said on Tuesday. The floppy-haired songsters were also the reason that one in every 13 foreign tourists visited South Korea in 2017. Known for their boyish good looks and meticulously choreographed dance moves, BTS – short for Bangtan Sonyeondan, which translates to Bulletproof Boy Scouts – have become one of South Korea’s best-known and most valuable musical exports. Earlier this year, the septet became the first K-pop band to top the United States album charts, a sign of the genre’s growing global appeal, which has helped boost the brand image of South Korean products abroad, the institute said. Researchers estimated that the group’s so-called annual production inducement effect – the total economic value generated by related industries – at 4.1 trillion won (Dh13bn) annually, the same as 26 midsized South Korean companies. Some 800,000 tourists were believed to have chosen South Korea as their destination last year because of BTS – more than 7 per cent of the total visitors to the country. More than $1bn in consumer exports, such as clothes, cosmetics, and foodstuffs, were associated with them, it said. If BTS maintain their popularity they can be expected to generate an economic value of 41.8 trillion won over the next 10 years, the institute added.