"Attracting Foreign Patients"... Gangseo-gu Rolls Up Sleeves Again

Establishment of the '2024 Medical Tourism Promotion Basic Plan'
Miracle Medi Festival in Gangseo to be Held in October

Gangseo-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jin Gyo-hoon) announced on the 19th that it has established the ‘2024 Basic Plan for the Activation of Medical Tourism’ to reemerge as an international medical tourism hub city.

Medical tourism is a high value-added industry that attracts foreign patients by linking medical services with tourism products.

Gangseo-gu has steadily grown since being designated as the Gangseo Miracle Medi Special Zone by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in 2015, but has experienced a downturn due to difficulties in attracting foreign patients after COVID-19.

This basic plan was promoted to revitalize the stagnant medical tourism, secure the competitiveness of the Gangseo Miracle Medi Special Zone, and realize an international medical tourism hub city.

The basic plan is divided into three areas: ▲activation of public-private cooperation networking ▲expansion of medical tourism infrastructure ▲improvement of the special zone brand awareness.

To activate public-private cooperation networking, the Gangseo Miracle Medi Special Zone Council, composed of 70 members across five divisions including medical care, attraction, shopping, accommodation, and dining, will be operated more actively.

The council will discuss ways to link each sector and will continuously recruit additional institutions such as hospitals registered for foreign patient attraction and global restaurants to strengthen the network.

Projects to expand medical tourism infrastructure to secure demand from foreign patients will also be promoted. Promotional videos and guidebooks for the special zone, produced in multiple languages such as English and Chinese, will be created to promote Gangseo-gu as a city specialized in medical tourism. Translation and interpretation services will be supported for council institutions to activate foreign patient attraction.

Additionally, a medical tourism product contest will be held to develop new medical services targeting younger generations, including skin care, health checkups, and well-aging, as well as existing fields such as spine, joints, and infertility.

Projects to improve the brand awareness of Gangseo Miracle Medi will also be promoted. In the second half of the year, a consortium will be formed with council institutions to hold overseas medical briefings and actively participate in international exhibitions hosted abroad.

In October this year, the Gangseo Miracle Medi Festival will be held in conjunction with the Heojun Festival to actively promote Gangseo-gu’s medical tourism resources to foreign tourists.

Mayor Jin Gyo-hoon said, “We will accelerate the attraction of foreign patients through active promotion in major countries with high medical tourism demand,” and added, “We will do our best to enable the Gangseo medical tourism project to take off again.”

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