BTS tour triggers 6,700% jump in hotel searches across 34 cities worldwide

BTS’ new stadium tour, titled ‘Arirang’, is scheduled to run from April 2026 to March 2027, spanning 34 cities across Asia, North and South America, Australia, Europe and the UK.

In multiple stops, the scramble has not been limited to concert seats: flights and hotel rooms have also been snapped up at breakneck speed, with spillover visitors expected to deliver an extra boost to host-city businesses beyond the arenas.

The surge became visible almost immediately after the tour was announced on January 13, 2026.

Within 48 hours, travel searches for South Korea’s Seoul rose 155%, while Busan searches jumped 2,375% compared with the week before, according to Hotels.com.

The shockwave also spread beyond South Korea.

In Kaohsiung, Taiwan, searches surged 6,700% year on year around the November 19 tour date, according to Booking.com.

Ticketing itself has turned into a race of reaction time.

Despite covering more regions than ever and tripling their ticket inventory, BTS still sold out ‘Arirang’ in 20 minutes, a sharp acceleration from the group’s “Permission to Dance” tour in 2021–2022, which sold out over five to six hours.

Fans who failed to complete purchases, whether from internet connection problems or simply being a fraction too slow, have increasingly drifted to the secondhand market.

That shift has brought sticker shock.

On the resale platform StubHub, some ‘Arirang’ tickets have been listed for about $7,276, nearly 40 times their original price, according to checks cited by CNBC.

The same frenzy has spilt into accommodation, where intense demand has encouraged price gouging in popular areas.

Local reports in South Korea have described hotel rooms near major transit hubs as fully booked on BTS tour dates, even when properties priced rooms at more than double typical weekend rates.

For many fans, the cost of simply finding a bed, not a VIP package, has become a second contest after ticketing.

Industry analysts argue the pattern is exactly what makes concert tourism so profitable.

Prudence Lai, a consultant at Euromonitor International, said concert travellers typically arrive with one core purpose, seeing their idols on stage, but their “sporadic yet concentrated” presence can trigger sudden spikes in spending.

Ben Kruger, Chief Marketing Officer at Event Tickets Centre, said the scarcity of one-off concerts, unlike predictable annual festivals, creates a “once in a lifetime opportunity” mindset that pushes demand sharply higher.

Kruger pointed to the online attention as a proxy for that intensity: he noted that the annual music and arts festival Coachella in California generated roughly half as many web searches as the BTS ticket announcement.

Hotels and travel operators are already adapting to this new class of guest.

Hotels.com reported a concentrated surge in searches for three- and four-star accommodation close to BTS venues across host cities, suggesting many travellers are prioritising practicality over luxury.

Still, Lai said proximity is not the only consideration: price, safety and consistent service remain central factors in booking decisions.

Some properties are going further to capture the wave.

In Spain, Palace Hotel Madrid has prepared concierge teams to help guests plan transport and dining before and after concerts by BTS and Puerto Rican performer Bad Bunny, whose world tour overlaps in June.

Lai added that fans who extend their stay by a couple of days increasingly resemble business travellers tacking on leisure time.

Unlike high-end holidaymakers seeking fully personalised experiences, she said many concertgoers mainly want a reliable place to sleep, and then they head straight for the venue.

BTS may be the most dramatic example so far, but travel platforms expect the broader trend to hold through the year, with other major tours, including those by Bruno Mars, Harry Styles and K-pop group EXO, also likely to draw international travellers.

CNBC