by I visited the ‘Hiker Ground’ at the Seoul Center of the Korea Tourism Organization, where you can escape from the hot weather and play cool. Hiker Ground is a four-story Korean tourism promotion center that opened on July 22.
When you enter the first floor, there is a large media wall called ‘Hiker Wall’ where you can watch vivid Korean tourism video content with themes such as K-pop and K-drama. If you go up to the second floor, there is ‘K-Pop Ground’, a Hallyu-themed immersive exhibition experience zone. Here, you can experience a live studio using XR technology and K-pop music video stage equipment with various concepts.
Subway Studio, located at the entrance of K-Pop Ground, is built exactly like the interior of a Korean subway. In addition, visitors can set up virtual backgrounds, music, and lighting made from subway windows. Sitting in the studio set on a peaceful daytime background and with serene music was like traveling on the subway. Other spectators set colorful lighting and virtual backgrounds and danced and filmed, just like a scene from a music video.
In addition to the Subway studio, there are studios with various concepts such as My Stage, Coin Laundry, Color Room, and Stage Ship, and there is also a space for K-pop mini-games. In particular, My Stage studio seems to be a space where global fans who love Hallyu can enjoy the music video stage equipment and take pictures.
On the 3rd floor, there is a special exhibition hall called ‘Hiker Atrium’ where you can see special exhibitions composed of artworks by artists who show various aspects of Korean tourism. Also located on the 3rd floor is the ‘Dramatic Trip’, where you can enjoy new Korean tourism through Korean dramas and video content. The VR content, in which the drama characters introduce tourist attractions, is also very interesting. Through the VR experience, the author was also able to really feel the beautiful appearance of ‘Guryongpyo Seokbyeong 1-RI Village’, which was the background of the drama.
On the 4th floor, the domestic tourism multi-experience zone ‘Hiker Cave’ is located. In the multi-experience hall, you can feel the local tourist attractions in Korea through the five senses rather than text. Through various devices, you can feel as if you are actually traveling there, and the stones in the tourist spots introduced in the video are provided so that you can directly touch them. You can also visit the Medical Tourism Information Center. Here, foreigners can receive necessary medical information while measuring stress and skin, and can also find and taste Korean traditional tea that is suitable for them through a simple diagnosis.
There is also a local festival Digilog Experience Center where you can experience various regional festivals through interactive art experiences using color drawings. I was able to experience the ‘Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival’ by sending my own colored yew lanterns on the screen, and I was fascinated by its beauty even though it was a screen, and thought I would like to visit the ‘Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival’.
On the 5th floor, there is a tourist information center where you can search for various travel brochures and information and a hiker challenge space where you can check out Korean tourism trends by turning roulette and looking for tickets. In addition, the Cheonggyecheon View Terrace, which is the attraction of the Hiker Ground, is also located on the 5th floor, so we recommend you to stop by. With a panoramic view of Cheonggyecheon, this place is a perfect photo spot. Also, on the first floor of PICKR, there is a publicity hall that displays products that have been successful in crowdfunding for tourism companies, so you can view and purchase various tourism products.
When I visited the Hiker Ground, I thought that it would be an attractive space for both foreign tourists who love K-pop and domestic tourists who want to enjoy a different experience or get various travel information. Hiker Ground also operates regular docents, so if you want to have more fun, taking a docent tour is a good way to go. These days, when you are tired of the hot weather, how about visiting the hiker ground if you want to experience various experiences and get tourist information in a cool room?
