SOUTH KOREA Boosting Medical Tourism
- Korea’s local governments build healthcare clusters to attract foreign patients
Since the South Korean government announced medical tourism as one of its 17 next- generation growth engines to create a medical tourism boom following countries such as Thailand, Singapore and India, local governments, including Jeju Island, plan to build healthcare clusters for medical tourism to attract foreign patients. Last year, South Korea earned about US$ 48 million from medical tourism, attracting 40,000 foreign patient visitors.
This year, Daegu has launched “Medi Citi” as its own brand, arranging 40 hospitals to prepare English, Japanese and Chinese brochures, opening websites in foreign languages and participating international conferences and exhibitions. It along with Osong in North Chungcheong Province recently won US$ 5 billion bids to build medical complexes.
Busan is already a popular medical tourism destination among the Japanese for weekend aesthetic and plastic surgery. It runs a call center for translation services for foreign patients.
Recently, Gangwon-do signed an MOU with Korean Tourism Organization (KNTO) to develop medical tourism in Gangwon province, targeting the attraction of 10,000 foreign patients. KNTO will utilize its 27 overseas branches to promote sales and marketing of medical tourism and educate skilled manpower in medical tourism for Gangwon-do.
One of the most appealing and promising provinces in South Korea for medical tourism is Jeju Island, owing to its unique natural landscapes WHO-accredited health city and UNESCO designated biosphere reserve, world natural heritage site. The Jeju Healthcare Town is a joint project undertaken by the South Korean Government and the private sector.
JDC (Jeju Free International City Development Center), which is implementing six core projects including Jeju Healthcare Town, hopes to attract medical travelers with Jeju island’s clean and beautiful natural environment combined with cutting-edge healthcare skills. Jeju Healthcare Town will hold ground – breaking ceremony around the year-end and plan to open early 2011. It will offer not only healthcare but leisure, entertainment, recreation, rest, education, culture, medical treatment and rehabilitation. It is being developed in three phases - Wellness Park, a medical relaxation complex for beauty, prevention, health and relaxation; Medical Park, a high-tech medical complex for various high-quality specialized treatments; and R&D Park for a medical R&D complex. International companies desiring to invest in related field will receive strengthened support, such as local tax exemption, provisions for housing, special employment benefits (support of approximately US$783 for newly hired employees for up to six months) and investment incentives ranging from corporate tax, registration tax and property tax to customs duties. The planned investment scale so far US$ 614.3 million, with the public sector providing US$ 122.6 million, while the rest will come from the private sector with total worth US$ 492.5 million
The island is located at the center of Northeast Asia, embracing an enormous potential market of approximately 750 million people including five cities each with a population of over 10 million within a two-hour flight.
The Jeju Healthcare Town plans to open in early 2011.
Contact Information:
KPR & Associates Inc. Suna PARK (+82-2-3406-
