Seoul Draws 1 Million Medical Tourists, Over 1 Trillion Won Spent
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, approximately 1 million foreign medical tourists visited Seoul in 2024, marking an all-time high on an annual basis. These visitors spent over KRW 1.2 trillion on medical services in the city last year.
Data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, published in the report “Status of Foreign Patient Attraction in 2024,” shows that a total of 1,170,467 foreign patients from 202 countries came to South Korea throughout 2024. Among them, 999,642 received medical services at healthcare facilities in Seoul. Medical tourists spent more than KRW 1.2 trillion at Seoul medical institutions using overseas credit cards. The largest groups of visitors came from Japan (421,541), China (220,260), the United States (75,531), Taiwan (74,292), and Thailand (31,223).
In terms of medical specialties, dermatology accounted for 665,382 patients, plastic surgery 131,541, integrated internal medicine 81,181, health check-up centers 34,554, and traditional Korean medicine 23,066. The growth in medical tourism is attributed to the increase in Seoul-based medical institutions catering to foreign patients, which rose from 920 in 2020 to 1,994 last year.
Seoul’s promotional and marketing efforts, as well as interpreter coordinators, are also considered to have contributed to the surge.
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