South Korea Lessons: From 'Hallyu Wave' to $16 Billion Lifestyle Economy

Since the 1990s, the Korean Government has had a vision to develop this economy, although it has not officially used the term Lifestyle economy.

Sharing at the workshop "Lifestyle Economy - New Growth Driver of Ho Chi Minh City" organized by Tuoi Tre newspaper in collaboration with the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City on the afternoon of December 5, Mr. Park Sang Mo, Head of Planning - Events Department (Korean Cultural Center in Vietnam), said that the Korean Government since the 1990s has had an orientation to develop this economy, although it has not officially used the term Lifestyle economy.

The future economic pillar is based on intellectual property.

Accordingly, South Korea then viewed cultural content as a new growth engine and began to industrialize vigorously. Since then, films, television, music , and games have been viewed as strategic industries, and "this can be considered the foundation for what we call today the 'lifestyle economy,'" Mr. Park said.

"Lifestyle Economy - New Growth Driver of Ho Chi Minh City" organized by Tuoi Tre newspaper in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade took place on the afternoon of December 5, with the support of Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company (PNJ) and Masterise Homes Real Estate Development Company Limited.

The workshop is a highlight within the framework of the forum "Lifestyle Economy - New growth driver of Ho Chi Minh City" to discuss lifestyle economy.

This is an economic model that is taking shape strongly in Vietnam as consumers shift from buying to use to buying to express themselves, show their style, prioritize personalization and experience...

Also from the 1990s, the term "hallyu" - the Korean cultural wave was born, peaked in 2000-2010, and continues to grow strongly until now with symbols such as BTS, Black Pink or the movie Squid Game.

To date, Korean content exports have reached $16 billion annually. Korean culture has evolved beyond a trend into a futuristic industry that combines intellectual property, fandom, and platforms.

In addition to the value of "invisible" cultural products, the hallyu wave also promotes interest and demand from consumers outside of Korea for products promoted through movies, music and celebrities...

Mr. Park Sang Mo - Head of Planning - Events Department of Korean Cultural Center in Vietnam presented a paper on International experience in urban development according to the lifestyle economic model - Photo: QUANG DINH

According to Mr. Park, the Korean government is well aware that as hallyu content becomes popular overseas, interest in the entire Korean lifestyle, from beauty, fashion, food to tourism, will also naturally increase.

This is proven when Korea is the world's leading cosmetics exporting country.

In a report in October 2025, the Korea Customs Service (KCS) said the country is expected to break the record of 10.2 billion USD in cosmetics exports in 2025. In the first three quarters of 2025 alone, the amount of cosmetics exported reached 8.52 billion USD, an increase of 15.4% over the same period.

Sharing the same topic about Korean cultural exports, Mr. Ninh Trung Tan - Founder of HANITA, gave an example that Vietnamese tourism can learn from, just by renting Hanbok (Korean costume) at tourist destinations, Korea has earned a significant source of income each year, when the rental price can be up to 60,000 won (more than 1 million VND)/time.

To "sell" culture abroad, Mr. Tan commented, Korea has been very clever in "packaging" cultural elements for export, possibly through the CD industry, but besides that, Korea also "packages" Taekwondo or Korean language... According to Mr. Tan, not only large enterprises, but also small and medium enterprises in Vietnam can completely participate and enjoy these trends.

Lifestyle economics is not just for young people

Sharing at the conference. "Professor in shorts" Truong Nguyen Thanh said that a study showed that by 2032, Vietnam will become a country with an aging population. This means that many people will change their lifestyle, gradually get used to hospital beds, and spend all their accumulated wealth on hospitals and nursing homes.

But from there, he immediately cited his own case, when 10 days ago he did a 24-hour bike ride with a distance of 400km. From there, he said: "Everyone has the ability to live a healthy life if they have the right lifestyle."

Ms. Thi Anh Dao believes that real estate businesses themselves now talk more about lifestyle, with many projects talking about green living. - Photo: QUANG DINH

Ms. Thi Anh Dao - Marketing Director of Masterise Group - agrees that the lifestyle economy is not only for young people, with real estate targeting the middle class and above, when they have a good income, when buying a house, they not only care about the hardware but also many other factors, not just a place to "come in and out".

In the past, when buying a house, people cared about the location because they considered the house as a long-term asset. A few years ago, they needed a luxury house: how many ^square meters, how complete, then it changed when they defined a luxury house as being in a luxury residential area.

Nowadays, home buyers care about who the community of residents is. When society develops too fast, life experiences are more dense, they care about whether the project gives me daily life experiences, whether it meets my lifestyle. Investors have also changed, in the past they talked a lot about "hardware", now they talk more about lifestyle, in which many projects talk about green living stories.

The initial stage of creating high value will be in the design story, but then it must be creating a living ecosystem, including whether the daily living needs are in the right style, and whether the community living with them is of the same color and quality.

"That's what really creates a space and a real living community for them. The experience economy is not a new story, it has been around for a long time, but we have never really considered it and made it a business strategy," Ms. Dao commented.

Dr. Phan Bao Giang, Vice Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance - Photo: HUU HANH

Dr. Phan Bao Giang - Vice Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance affirmed that everyone has the need to live a life full of experiences, style, and neatness. Participating in the workshop from the beginning, Mr. Giang realized that many large enterprises and corporations are doing a very good job of preparing and changing to develop in the direction of lifestyle economy. Therefore, he is increasingly concerned about whether small and medium enterprises have enough space and conditions to do this.

According to Dr. Phan Bao Giang, small businesses can also do these things - that is, change to catch up with the lifestyle economy. Instead of spending a lot of money on market research, he believes that small and medium-sized businesses should take advantage of the young staff - the group standing in the target customer group, to listen, to research, and from there draw up common standard models.

Furthermore, Mr. Giang believes that incorporating sustainable development goals into development orientations will help small and medium-sized enterprises catch up with the pace of lifestyle economic development. Because green and clean factors are also a global trend, helping customers make a difference and spreading a green and sustainable lifestyle.

Innovation is the foundation of lifestyle economy

Dr. Do Phu Tran Tinh - Director of the Institute for Policy Development, VNU-HCM - Photo: QUANG DINH

Associate Professor, Dr. Do Phu Tran Tinh - Director of the Institute for Policy Development, Ho Chi Minh City National University - assessed that today's workshop is contributing to finding solutions for the Government's goal of becoming a developed country by 2024, the problem of double-digit growth.

According to Mr. Tinh, to achieve the above goals, the development of lifestyle economy requires synchronous planning. Synchronization from infrastructure space, culture, green - convenient transportation, convenient and civilized living space... And to achieve this, we must focus on innovation. At the same time, the policy mechanism must promote small and medium enterprises. Mr. Tinh believes that currently, the market changes very quickly, forcing businesses to invest in research and innovation is an essential requirement.

"In the current context, breakthroughs in scientific research and innovation are as favorable as they are now, because everything is included in the law and there is priority in budget allocation," Mr. Tinh emphasized. In addition, he believes that developing the "3-house" model of "state - school - business" will be the basis for solving all problems.

The highlight of this model is that it directly solves very current problems about the needs and demands of society. This model also maximizes the effectiveness in sharing risks. "Lifestyle economy has a completely developing environment, a new driving force to pull other economic sectors. Because human capital is oriented towards two things, beauty and health, this lifestyle economy is aiming for," Mr. Tinh explained.

Korean representative shares how the country develops lifestyle economy - Photo: HUU HANH

Listening to the market to improve Ho Chi Minh City's industrial and trade policies

Mr. Nguyen Nguyen Phuong - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade - Photo: HUU HANH

Mr. Nguyen Nguyen Phuong - Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City - said that after 30 years working at the department, what he feels most clearly is the spirit of daring to think, daring to do and the ability to turn ideas into action of the business community of Ho Chi Minh City.

He recalled that in the past, during each holiday season, the market often fluctuated strongly in terms of supply, demand, and prices. However, thanks to meetings and connections between businesses and management agencies, the situation has improved significantly: market research costs have decreased, production costs are more reasonable, and goods reach people at reasonable prices. According to him, dialogues between supply, demand, and management agencies are "very necessary" for the market to have good products and services at reasonable prices.

At the workshop organized by Tuoi Tre newspaper, Mr. Phuong said that the experts' opinions helped the industry and trade sector see more clearly many issues of production and trade. He pledged to continue collecting data, comments and solutions from the workshop to advise the city on effective policies, in order to turn the proposals into reality and promote higher growth.

Learn about jewelry and gifts on the sidelines of the conference - Photo: QUANG DINH

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bai-hoc-han-quoc-tu-lan-song-hallyu-den-nen-kinh-te-phong-cach-song-tri-gia-16-ti-usd-20251205160902965.htm