Netflix has put a number on the travel draw of its library: 67% of surveyed members internationally want to visit South Korea. Sung Q Lee, the streamer’s senior director of APAC production, shared the figure at the opening masterclass of Creative Asia on Oct. 10 during the 31st Busan International Film Festival.
Lee’s interpretation is the important part for entertainment marketers. The pull, he argued, is the stories set in the country rather than the scenery on its own. A place becomes a destination when viewers attach an emotion to it.
Production lessons from the panel
This year’s Creative Asia at Dongseo University’s Centum Campus ran for a third consecutive year and was developed with the Asian Film Commissions Network and the Motion Picture Association. Alongside masterclasses and industry panels, the program added workshops led by Netflix executives.
Location manager Lauren Cooper said she first reads a script as an audience member, then considers what it requires from the location department. She works closely with the production designer. “Filmmaking is like a team sport,” she said. “You need great flexibility to work with the crew and the story.”
Producer Kunieda Reiko went further, quoting Wim Wenders: “The artifice of a story can ruin a film.” On “Perfect Days,” which was shot in 16 days, the story was allowed to grow from its real locations. “Location and storytelling are not separable,” she said.
The number as an audience signal
The 67% finding is not a rating. It is a travel-intent figure from surveyed members, not all subscribers. But for streaming and tourism stakeholders, it turns location choice into a measurable go-to-market signal.
- Story-led locations create demand that extends past a title’s release.
- A real place works hardest when it is connected to universal emotion, as with the Jeju-set series “When Life Gives You Tangerines.”
- Production and marketing teams should treat shoot locations as audience assets, not backdrops.
What teams should watch
Creative Asia’s structure—Netflix executives running workshops with film commissions and the Motion Picture Association—points to a more standardized link between screen production and destination promotion. The survey gives planners a benchmark for content-led tourism.
Lee pointed to the Jeju-set series “When Life Gives You Tangerines” to make the case that universal emotions connect audiences to unfamiliar places. That has a planning implication: the destination need not be famous before the title; the title can make it known.
The next step is to measure what happens after viewing: search interest in locations, tourism queries and partnership inquiries. If 67% of surveyed members say they would visit a country, the story itself has become the advertisement.
Source: Variety
