Busan City Launches 'Wellness and Medical Tourism Cluster Council'

At 2 PM on the 21st at City Hall, a total of 50 public-private-academic institutions and organizations related to wellness and medical tourism participate

Foreign patient country cultural zone councils (Russia, Central Asia, Asia, English-speaking

Busan City and the Busan Economic Promotion Agency will hold the launch ceremony of the public-private-academic joint council, the ‘Wellness·Medical Tourism Cluster Council’ (hereinafter referred to as the Council), at 2 p.m. on the 21st at the City Hall International Conference Hall to declare a new start for integrated medical tourism and wellness tourism aimed at attracting foreign patients, followed by the 1st International Wellness Medical Tourism Forum (hereinafter referred to as the Forum).

Busan City Hall.

Hosted by Busan City and organized by the Busan Economic Promotion Agency, this event is the first council formed and the first forum held in Busan to share related information and opinions among institutions to revitalize the attraction of foreign patients and to achieve tangible results in the convergence business of medical tourism and wellness.

The co-chairpersons of the Council are Lee Jae-hee, CEO of Goryeo Medical Tourism Development, and Lee Mi-ran, Deputy Director of Wellmi Wellness Solution. The Council has newly established and organized three subcommittees based on the cultural zones of foreign medical tourists: Russia and Central Asia, Asia, and English-speaking regions.

The Council will be operated by the secretariat of the Busan Economic Promotion Agency and will play roles such as establishing a public-private-industry-academia value chain cooperation system to seek ways to develop the local medical tourism industry, identifying and resolving medical tourism industry demands by the three cultural zone subcommittees, and discovering new projects.

The launch ceremony will be held with the participation of officials from over 50 medical tourism-related organizations and will proceed in the order of ▲Opening remarks (Jin Yang-hyun, Director of Busan Economic Promotion Agency), greetings (Yu Gyu-won, Director of Tourism MICE Bureau, Busan City), congratulatory speech (Chairman of the Administrative and Cultural Committee of the City Council) ▲Presentation of appointment plaques ▲Reading and performance of the joint declaration ▲Wellness experience.

Also, the Forum, held for the first time this year under the theme ‘A New Start for Busan Wellness Medical Tourism,’ will serve as a venue for academic discussions and discourse formation on the value and development direction of Busan as a medical tourism city. It will begin with a keynote speech by Professor Shin Hak-seung of Hanyang University, followed by presentations from experts in the medical tourism wellness field as panelists.

Yu Gyu-won, Director of the Tourism MICE Bureau of Busan City, stated, “In an era where everyday life has become tourism, the future of Busan’s medical tourism depends on discovering wellness resources and how to connect them.” He added, “Today’s launch ceremony and forum are expressions of our determination to foster the medical tourism industry as a high value-added industry. Busan City will do its best to nurture the medical tourism industry so that it can leap forward as a ‘world-class medical tourism city’ by strengthening targeting of high value-added patients, establishing country-specific customized strategies such as discovering and promoting tailored models for VIP patients and long-term stay patients.”

This year, Busan City was selected for a public project by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, securing a total of 800 million KRW in national funds. Last year, Busan was the only local government to receive the Prime Minister’s Award at the Global Healthcare Merit Awards. Busan continues its efforts to prepare for the new normal era of medical tourism by leveraging its excellent infrastructure and specialized medical technologies unique to its marine, leisure, and healing city characteristics.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.