Hanacard "K-Medical Tourism Spending Hits 250 Billion Won in First Half... Tripled in One Year"

Rapid Increase in Use of Japanese Plastic Surgery and Dermatology Clinics

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Medical tourism by foreigners has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic. Card spending in the medical sector alone reached 250 billion KRW in the first half of the year, growing more than threefold compared to the previous year.

On the 18th, Hana Card released a detailed analysis of card usage amounts by medical sector and by country. The survey found that card spending by short-term foreign visitors staying less than a month in the medical sector amounted to approximately 250 billion KRW in the first half of this year. This is more than three times the 76 billion KRW recorded in the first half of last year. In June alone, spending exceeded 60 billion KRW, marking the highest monthly usage recently.

By detailed sector, plastic surgery (79.3 billion KRW), dermatology (56.7 billion KRW), and general hospitals (34.4 billion KRW) ranked highest. The year-on-year growth rate was overwhelmingly led by dermatology at 583%, followed by plastic surgery at 358%, and general hospitals at 103%. This indicates an increase in medical tourism demand for cosmetic purposes.

By nationality, the United States had the highest spending at 47.6 billion KRW. Specifically, in plastic surgery, the order was the U.S. (20.7 billion KRW), Japan (18.6 billion KRW), and Thailand (7.6 billion KRW). Japan’s plastic surgery spending increased 25-fold compared to the first half of last year. Indonesia also saw an 18-fold increase.

In dermatology, the U.S. (15.7 billion KRW) and Japan (15.6 billion KRW) were the top spenders, followed by China (4.4 billion KRW) in third place. However, the largest year-on-year increases were seen in Japan (38-fold), Taiwan (34-fold), and Thailand (20-fold). For general hospitals, the U.S. led with 11.2 billion KRW, followed by Kazakhstan (9.6 billion KRW) and Mongolia (3.3 billion KRW).

Medical tourists were also big spenders outside the medical field. In particular, foreign tourists who used plastic surgery services had about four times more card transactions and spending than general foreign tourists. While general tourists used cards in an average of three sectors, plastic surgery tourists used cards in an average of eight sectors, mainly including department stores, dermatology clinics, hotels, duty-free shops, and clothing stores.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, plastic surgery has been the medical sector with the highest card spending. Before COVID-19, in 2019, the highest monthly spending was in the 7 billion KRW range, but this year, it reached 15.7 billion KRW as of June. Dermatology also recorded 15.3 billion KRW, more than twice that of general hospitals (6.9 billion KRW). Other medical sectors such as internal medicine and dentistry also increased by about 1.5 to 2 times compared to before the pandemic.

Lee Seok, Head of Hana Card’s Digital Finance Group, stated, "With the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in foreign tourists is expected to continuously boost interest and spending in the domestic medical sector. By analyzing changes in foreign tourists’ spending by medical sector, we hope to provide positive support for future strategies to attract foreign tourists and related planning."

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