Anime tourism opens new travel opportunities across Asia

International

From manga towns in Japan to webtoon districts in South Korea and major fan conventions, pop culture is increasingly shaping where Asian travellers choose to go

Anime, manga and other forms of Asian pop culture are becoming increasingly visible drivers of travel demand. Digital travel platform Agoda has identified destinations across Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines and Hong Kong where fictional worlds, artists and fan communities are developing into tourism attractions in their own right.

The trend extends well beyond visits to conventional theme parks. Fans are seeking out streets, railway stations and landscapes associated with their favourite productions, while destinations are responding with museums, public art and themed districts. Major conventions and cosplay events add another layer, generating concentrated demand for accommodation and travel around specific dates.

Faster distribution of entertainment across Asian markets is helping the trend grow. New productions can now reach audiences in several countries almost simultaneously, while social media rapidly turns individual locations into recognisable destinations. For tourism businesses, this creates opportunities ranging from specialist itineraries to accommodation around convention venues and lesser-known regional attractions.

Japan turns stories into places

Hokuei in Japan's Tottori Prefecture provides one of the clearest examples. The small town is the birthplace of Gosho Aoyama, creator of Detective Conan, and has incorporated the manga character into its tourism identity.

Yura Station is also known as Conan Station, while the 1.4-kilometre Conan Street leads visitors towards the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory. Statues and other references to the series accompany visitors through the town, effectively transforming a local connection with one creator into a tourism product.

Near Nagoya, Ghibli Park in Nagakute takes a different approach. Built on the former Expo 2005 site, the attraction recreates settings associated with Studio Ghibli productions, including My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle and Kiki's Delivery Service. Rather than relying primarily on rides, the park focuses on environments that visitors can explore on foot.

Taiwan's Jiufen represents a less formal version of screen-inspired tourism. The hillside settlement, with its narrow stairways, lanterns and traditional teahouses, is frequently associated by visitors with the atmosphere of Spirited Away. Its established cultural appeal and coastal setting allow it to attract both pop-culture fans and conventional leisure travellers.

Fan culture creates urban demand

Elsewhere in Asia, contemporary fan communities are becoming attractions themselves. In Busan, the Global Webtoon Center and the annual Busan Webtoon Festival reflect South Korea's strong digital-comics industry. Seongbuk Traditional Market has also been transformed through webtoon-inspired murals and artwork.

Manila has developed into an important meeting point for anime and cosplay fans. Cosplay Mania, staged at the SMX Convention Center, brings together costumes, artists and Japanese animation music. Such events can generate highly concentrated demand for hotels, transport and entertainment around convention districts.

Hong Kong combines major pop-culture events with a year-round retail scene centred on collectibles, comics and gaming. This gives the city a product that extends beyond individual convention dates and can be incorporated into broader urban itineraries.

“What's interesting about this trend is how local it's become,” said Jay Lee, Regional Director, North Asia, at Agoda. He pointed to Filipino cosplayers, Korean webtoon artists and Japanese communities building tourism around manga creators as different expressions of the same development.

For destinations, that diversity is part of anime tourism's appeal. It can direct visitors towards places outside established sightseeing circuits while giving major cities another reason to travel tied to events, shopping and fan communities. As Asian pop culture reaches increasingly international audiences, these connections between entertainment and physical destinations are creating a distinct and increasingly marketable travel segment.