SEOUL: Hallyu or the Korean Wave is still highly popular in the Philippines based on a study done by The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange (KOFICE) on economic impact of Korean Wave in 2015.
The study involved a survey of 8,130 respondents from 29 countries including the United States, Canada, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, China, France, South Africa, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil and the Philippines.
The Philippines placed second overall among countries where hallyu is very popular, earning a Korean Wave Index score of 3.96 – an increase of 0.15 from 3.81 in 2014.
The study tagged the Philippines a country where hallyu enjoys prospects of medium growth along with China, Singapore, Vietnam and Myanmar. In contrast, hallyu enjoys prospects of strong growth in Thailand and Indonesia. According to the report, total exports in 2015 due to the Korean Wave totaled $7.03 billion, an increase of 2.2 percent compared to 2014. Of the total, $2.82 billion exports were cultural and entertainment contents consisting of Korean music, Korean dramas and TV programs, movies, animation and games.
Korean music export totaled $354 million in 2015, up by 30.7 percent compared to $271 million in 2014. Exports of Korean dramas and TV programs totaled $403 million, an increase of 30.7 percent compared to $309 million in 2014.
Korean movies that were exported last year experienced an increase of 222 percent, totaling $79 million from $25 million in 2014. Consumer goods and tourism due to the Korean Wave totaled $4.21 billion in 2015, a decrease of 4.21 percent compared to $4.39 billion in 2014.
