Hello. This is Realworld, a playable content platform. The word 'travel' alone is exciting to hear. Everyone wants to return from tourist destinations having had new and enjoyable experiences. However, there's a travel trend that experience providers, rather than experience consumers, should pay attention to: the rise of nighttime tourism.
Recently, digital travel tech company Booking.com announced 9 notable travel trends to watch in 2025. Among them, 'nighttime tourism' stands out. Due to climate change causing extreme heat and rising perceived temperatures, travelers prefer nighttime travel, with half of travelers responding that they prefer nighttime over the sweltering daytime hours. Of course, even without the heat factor, there were also responses about wanting to visit destinations where they could experience beautiful night skies through stargazing.
While preference for nighttime tourism is increasing, are our tourist destinations ready? We need to provide new experiences that meet the expectations of MZ generation seeking novel experiences, but if you're unsure how to proceed, please pay attention to this case study. Realworld shares the results of the fantasy adventure 'Beyond the Dimensional Boundary' implemented at Gangneung Ojuk Hanok Village.
'Beyond the Dimensional Boundary' Content Overview
'Beyond the Dimensional Boundary' is a nighttime tourism experience content created through collaboration between Realworld and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea Tourism Organization, Gangneung City, and Gangneung Tourism Development Corporation. It was held from November 27 to December 30, 2024, at Gangneung Ojuk Hanok Village, a hanok accommodation facility. The hanok space was perfect for providing an experience like becoming the protagonist in a fantasy film that crosses the boundary between the afterlife and this world, similar to the animation 'Spirited Away'.
We put a lot of effort into differentiating this 'Beyond the Dimensional Boundary' from existing hanok experiences. When people think of 'hanok,' they typically think of horror experiences or abandoned house experiences first, and we wanted to break away from this image. First, we prepared two hanok buildings to represent the world of the living and the world of the dead. This not only expanded the content scale but also maximized the unique characteristics of each space, helping visitors effectively experience the hanok spaces. We also provided free hanbok rentals to appeal to younger generations who are sensitive to SNS viral content.
'Beyond the Dimensional Boundary' Content Operation
The synopsis of 'Beyond the Dimensional Boundary' is as follows: 'The only place in the country where a dimensional rift is hidden, allowing even living people to enter the afterlife. Having visited this place out of curiosity, 'I' hear a mysterious voice calling my name. It asks me to save itself, trapped in the afterlife. Will I be able to safely rescue the mysterious soul from the afterlife?'
Participants could immerse themselves in this mysterious and dreamlike worldview based on folk tales. As mentioned earlier, given the Eastern fantasy setting and our traditional hanok buildings as the backdrop, we provided free hanbok rentals to participants. Wearing beautiful colored hanbok, including king and queen costumes, participants could play with greater immersion.
Moreover, it didn't end as just an escape room game set in a hanok - real actors appeared to interact with participants, providing a more realistic and immersive experience. In actual reviews, we could find many comments like 'the actors' performances were excellent' and 'having actors made it much more fun and immersive.'
Results of 'Beyond the Dimensional Boundary'
'Beyond the Dimensional Boundary' was enjoyable for people of all ages. But having fun isn't the end, right? We need to measure and confirm what results were achieved. So we conducted a survey of participants who completed the experience, and 73% of respondents had never visited Ojuk Hanok Village before. They visited for the first time to experience the content.
Participants also left comments like 'I learned for the first time that there's a hanok village in Gangneung' and 'I came all the way from Seoul to Gangneung for this experience.' This shows that 'Beyond the Dimensional Boundary' had a positive impact on promoting and revitalizing Ojuk Hanok Village.
Let's look more closely at the characteristics of participants. Looking at the age distribution, as expected, participants in their 20s and 30s were most prevalent. And more women participated than men. This almost exactly matches Realworld's customer base, which can be interpreted as MZ generation women being more receptive to experience content.
To appeal to the target MZ generation, marketing was also conducted primarily through video content like Reels. Looking at the results, we can analyze that after gaining awareness through Instagram videos, it spread through word-of-mouth among acquaintances. If you're planning to market to the MZ generation in the future, you should take note of this.
Potential for Development into Accommodation-Based Experience Content
Don't you think 30 minutes of experience time is a bit short to fully enjoy Gangneung's Ojuk Hanok Village? Perhaps that's why I think about developing it into what could be called 'accommodation-based immersive theater,' where guests can stay overnight and dive into a longer story. Immersive theater refers to a form of theater that eliminates the boundary between audience and stage, allowing the audience to interact with actors and locations to complete the story.
At HOTEL SHE in Osaka and Kyoto, Japan, they irregularly operate accommodation-based immersive theater. Hotel guests take on roles in the story, having secret conversations with actors or running errands for them. Moreover, since the performance continues until guests wake up the next day and check out, hotel guests can fully experience both the immersive theater and the hotel space.
If you want many people to experience your space like this, why not try applying the experience content introduced today? And if you're unsure how to implement it, please contact Realworld. Experience industry experts are always standing by to solve your concerns. We'll return next time with more useful and interesting news. Thank you.