The number of medical tourists visiting Korea expanded 24.6 percent year-on-year in 2021, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, government data showed.
However, foreign patients seeking dermatology care decreased, and the proportion of medical tourists visiting the Seoul metropolitan area also fell last year.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said around 146,000 medical tourists visited Korea in 2021, up 24.6 percent from 117,000 in 2020.
The number of medical tourists has reached 3 million since the first attraction of foreign patients in 2009.
The Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions on international travel significantly eroded the number of medical tourists to Korea in 2020.
However, the government said the number rose 24.6 percent to 146,000 in 2021, thanks in part to increased Covid-19 vaccinations in 2021.
Medical tourists came from 191 countries in 2021, with the U.S. accounting for the largest proportion, followed by China, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Thailand.
Patients from the U.S. and China accounted for 39 percent of the total medical tourists, and those from Vietnam, 7.4 percent, and Mongolia, 6.3 percent.
The number of foreign patients visiting Korea increased in most countries last year compared to 2020. However, the number of Chinese and Japanese patients plummeted in 2021.
By department, 48,000 patients (26.4 percent) sought care in integrated internal medicine, 10.1 percent, health checkups, 9.2 percent, plastic surgery, and 6.6 percent, dermatology.
Integrated internal medicine includes general internal medicine, infectious disease, endocrine and metabolism, rheumatology, gastroenterology, cardiovascular disease, nephrology, allergy, hemato-oncology, pulmonology, and family medicine.
Compared to 2020, most departments saw an increase in medical tourists in 2021. The number of foreign travelers who visited Korea for health checkups skyrocketed by 278.9 percent, and those for integrated internal medicine, 64.7 percent, and ophthalmology, 55.2 percent.
In contrast, medical tourists for plastic surgery remained almost unchanged, and those for dermatology fell 22.3 percent in 2021.
By type of medical institution, 32.8 percent of medical tourists visited general hospitals, 28.2 percent clinics, and 25.6 percent, tertiary hospitals.
By region, Seoul attracted the largest proportion of medical tourists – 49.8 percent or 73,000 patients, followed by Gyeonggi Province with 17.2 percent, Daegu with 7.8 percent, Incheon with 5.9 percent, and Busan, 5.6 percent.
The proportion of medical tourists visiting Seoul went down from 56.8 percent in 2020 to 49.8 percent in 2021. The proportion of those visiting the Seoul metropolitan area decreased from 76.6 percent to 72.9 percent during the same period.
As the number of foreign patients seeking plastic surgery and skin care, mostly concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, fell, the proportion of medical tourists to other regions rose, the health and welfare ministry said.
Director-General Yoon Chan-sik for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, “The medical tourism project not only attracts medical treatment income but has a positive effect on the tourism industry.” Medical tourism is a high-value-added business that also creates jobs, he added.
The ministry said medical tourists would keep increasing as the Covid-19 situation stabilized in Korea and abroad. The ministry added that it would work with other government agencies to promote the excellence of Korean medical care and make the nation a leading healthcare country.