The single largest group of Chinese tourists to ever come by plane are on a tour of Incheon on Monday driven by the Asia-wide boom of Korean pop culture.

Approximately 6,000 Chinese tourists -- all employees of Aolan International Beauty Group, a cosmetics and health supplements company based in the south China province of Guangzhou -- will make a week-long trip to Incheon and Seoul until Saturday to visit various tourist attractions in those cities, according to organizers of the tour.

Included in their itineraries were the filming site for the mega-hit South Korean TV series "My Love from the Star." 

The first batch of the 6,000-strong group arrived at Incheon International Airport on Sunday via some 150 flights from 24 cities in China. 

The arrivals, due to the group's size, were arranged to take place from Sunday until Tuesday morning. 

Some 100 officials from the city of Incheon, the Korea Tourism Organization and Incheon Tourism Organization, which organized the visit, greeted the delegation at the airport.

On Sunday, the tourists visited Seoksan in the international business district of Songdo in Incheon where "My Love from the Star," a romantic comedy about a Korean actress and her extraterritorial boyfriend, was filmed.

The SBS TV drama was a runaway hit in China, bringing forth a phenomenon where fans went crazy for "chimek," where "chi" is short for chicken and "mek" for "mekju," or beer in Korean, the popular combination of foods that the main actress enjoyed in the drama.

"It is my first time to come to Korea. I like that the air and city are so clean. I am so excited to visit the place where the drama was filmed," a Chinese tourist from Guangzhou said.

Another tourist from the northeastern part of China said, "I am interested in the makeup and fashion of South Korean celebrities. I was so happy to hear that we were going to visit Incheon where the drama was shot," adding that most of her colleagues have enjoyed the drama very much, and that she would love to visit here again. 

On Monday night, a chicken and beer party will take place on the "Street of Culture" in Wolmido, an island about a kilometer off the Incheon coast, attended by around 4,500 Chinese tourists. For the event, 750 six-seat tables will be arranged and some 1,500 fried chickens will be served.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the group will hold a meeting in the Songdo Convensia to boost the morale of its employees.

The city of Incheon expects the visit to produce 12 billion won worth of economic effects from spending in accommodations, food and shopping. 

An official from the city said the city would provide its full support so as to help the visitors enjoy this visit as much as they can.

"We will try our best to make good impressions on them, so that they would want to come visit Incheon again in the future," the official said. (Yonhap)