The number of foreign patients who visited Korea surpassed 1 million for the first time last year. Among them, the top three countries with the highest per-capita share of credit-card spending on medical expenses were found to be Kazakhstan, Indonesia, and Mongolia—not the United States or Japan.
On the 16th, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) released the “2024 Report on Foreign Patient Spending Patterns Based on Credit Card Data,” which includes these findings.
According to the report, the total amount of card spending by foreign patients in Korea last year was 3.6647 trillion won, and of that, the amount spent at domestic medical institutions was 1.4053 trillion won—about 40% of total card spending.
The medical specialties most frequently used by foreign patients were dermatology and plastic surgery. Combined spending in these two specialties totaled 944.9 billion won, accounting for 25.8% of overall spending. By country, the scale of foreign patients’ credit-card usage ranked the United States first and Japan second.
However, when looking at per-capita credit-card spending by foreign patients by country, the top three were Kazakhstan (6,078,365 won), Indonesia (4,269,518 won), and Mongolia (3,673,259 won). In contrast, the United States and Japan—where both total foreign-patient credit-card spending and visitor numbers were the highest—fell outside the top 10 in per-capita credit-card spending, at 1,668,992 won and 992,475 won, respectively.
This is believed to be due to differences by country in the types of medical services sought in Korea. Han Dong-woo, Director of the International Healthcare Division at KHIDI, said, “In particular, many people from Japan used relatively lower-priced medical services such as skin beauty care or cosmetic procedures,” adding, “In contrast, in countries with many high-net-worth and VIP medical patients such as Kazakhstan and Mongolia, there is a tendency to spend large amounts by visiting for treatment purposes—such as at general hospitals and internal medicine—rather than for skin care or cosmetic surgery.”
In fact, skin-aesthetic procedures such as laser treatments and Botox are medical services frequently sought by Japanese tourists because they are about one-quarter the price in Korea compared with Japan. Meanwhile, in countries such as Mongolia and Kazakhstan, a relatively high proportion of foreign patients visit Korea for purposes such as treatment of serious illnesses and health screenings.
Along with medical services, foreign patients also spent on shopping, accommodations, dining out, transportation, and more. The amount they spent across four major sectors—department stores, restaurants, duty-free shops, and hotels—totaled 799.5 billion won.
KHIDI said it hopes the results of this analysis can be used as foundational data for developing regionally specialized medical tourism models. Director Han Dong-woo stated, “Above all, the process of attracting foreign patients must be accompanied by qualitative growth as well as quantitative growth,” adding, “We should prioritize patient safety and trust, including preventing medical accidents, and also raise the service standards of agencies that recruit foreign patients so they can better support foreign patients during their stay in Korea.”
