TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s “Nationwide Flash Tour” Held in Gwangju to Boost Local Economy Through K-Pop

Gwangju City has launched the “2025 Nationwide Flash Tour” featuring the popular K-pop boy group TOMORROW X TOGETHER (TXT) to stimulate the local economy. Conducted in collaboration with the Gwangju Tourism Corporation and CJENM (Mnet), this event includes various programs such as sales of local specialty products, surprise concerts, and hometown love donations, aimed at attracting fan pilgrimages and revitalizing regional tourism. As an HYBE-affiliated group, TOMORROW X TOGETHER operates “Flash Pop-ups” across Gwangju, selling the local specialty product zucchini at an extremely low price of 990 won each. Citizens and tourists who visit these pop-ups to purchase goods can attend surprise concerts, with all proceeds from ticket sales donated in full to Gwangju City under the hometown love donation program using the name of the idol group. However, criticism has arisen regarding the way the event is organized. Mnet announced that Gwangju would be the location of the event through its official Instagram account on the 9th, one day prior, but it did not disclose the exact locations of the Flash Pop-ups and the concert venues until 10 a.m. on the day of the event, releasing a map only at 11 a.m. According to the event schedule, pop-up sales are scheduled from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., concert entry begins at 5:30 p.m., and the performances start at 8 p.m., forcing attendees to wait for over 7 hours in the scorching heat. Questions have also been raised about the criteria used to select locations for the Nationwide Flash Tour. Mnet conducted a five-day voting campaign from the 2nd to the 6th to receive recommendations for tour locations, with Gyeongsangnam-do ranking first, Gyeonggi-do second, Gyeongsangbuk-do third, and Jeollanam-do fourth. Despite the decision to exclude special cities and metropolitan cities to align with the goal of boosting the local economy, no clear explanation has been given for why the first event was held in Gwangju. The Flash Pop-ups will be located in Yeoreumae House, I Love Street in Dong-gu, Youth Square, Peace Park in Seo-gu, and the Songjeong-dong area in Gwangsan-gu, while the surprise concerts will take place at the Gwangju City Hall Outdoor Music Hall.