I am very grateful to my good friend in Slavonia Slobodan Kadic who has joined the Total Croatia News team for the latest on the surge of tourism promotion that is Koreans to Croatia. The article was written for Total Croatia News, where it can be found after our launch next week. 

by Slobodan Kadic

ZAGREB - The Koreans are again in Croatia! Production company IHQ and Planet E Production in Korea, in cooperation with BALDUČI films from Zagreb, recorded four episodes of the new reality show "THE FRIENDS" on July 2-7/ The show will have an audience of eight million viewers, will be screened on four channels in eight episodes. This is the third time they have come to record in Croatia, and as the two previous shows had high ratings, Croatia and Zagreb became the sites that tourists from Korea visited in far greater numbers. We believe that this show will be as successful and that through this show again there will be a good promotion of Croatian.

The story involves the three actors, and one of them is Jang Hyuk, currently a top movie star in Korea. The popularity of actors is evident by the fact that Korean tourists strolling Zagreb recognized and photographed their heroes in amazement - says Spomenka Saraga, the famous producer who is participating in the project on the Croatian side.

The Korean team consists of 32 members, of which nine cameramen, four screenwriters and four directors. It is co-produced on the Korean side by LEE JAE EUN, and Croatian producer Spomenka Saraga.

Support to the project has been given by the Ministry of Tourism; Croatian National Tourist Board; Zagreb Tourist Board, Rovinj and the Tourist Association of Rovinj, Pula and Pula Tourist Board; Plitvice Lakes and Licko-Senjso County, which did not charge for filming on their territory.

A little more on the main star from Spomenka's Facebook page:

New Korean Reality Show - The Friends - in Croatia

Main actor’s name is Hyuk Jang, who is one of the top movie stars in Korea. He has plenty of fans because of his romantic and masculine image. Lots of dramas and films –for example, The Flu, Deep Tooted Tree, The Slave Hunters- those he performed were hits in Korea. He also won over 15 prizes for his work with TV dramas and films.

Korean reality TV returns to Croatia. And the Korean tourists are sure to follow...