Around BTS's Busan concert, foreign tourists' spending at traditional markets roughly doubled, the Kyunghyang Shinmun reported, a case of a big concert drawing tourists whose effect spread even to local traditional-market commerce.

Foreign fans who came to Busan for the show spent on food and souvenirs at markets, spreading the tourism effect into alley commerce and showing a channel by which 'K-content' connects to the local economy.

Large cultural events ripple across a wide range of industries such as lodging, transport and food and beverage. That warmth reaching locally rooted commerce like traditional markets is especially meaningful.

Still, to keep such effects from being one-off, observers note the need for content and infrastructure that hold tourists even after the event.

Sinophone Bridge Times views the culture industry as warmth flowing into the streets, not glamour on a stage. When a single concert becomes a market vendor's daily revenue, culture becomes economy.