Gyeonggi Research Institute releases Medical Hallyu Development Plan Report

◇ According to a survey conducted by the Gyeonggi Research Institute, the favorite activity of medical tourists visiting Korea is “shopping at department stores and traditional markets.” ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News

The favorite activity of medical tourists turned out to be “shopping at department stores and traditional markets.” Medical tourism is a newly integrated tourism concept that links medical services to leisure and cultural activities.

Gyeonggi Research Institute researcher Lee Su-jin wrote in the Medical Hallyu Development Plan that such results were revealed in a survey targeting medical institutions and agencies that attract international patients; the survey was conducted over the span of a month from December 16 last year.

The global medical tourism industry grew from USD 40 billion in 2004 to USD 100 billion in 2012. It is a next-generation industry that is expected to amount to approximately USD 130 billion by 2015.

Since the amendment of medical law in 2009, Korea had an annual average growth rate of 37.3% in the number of medical tourists visiting the country and 63.5% in earnings for medical treatment. Health-related tourism income and expenditures in 2011 exhibited a surplus. However, this still does not account for a significant share of the global medical tourism market, ranking a mere 19th among 34 OECD members.

The survey results revealed that “shopping” was the favorite program of medical tourists among both medical institutions (61.3%) and agents (52.0%), followed by “hot spring, spa massage and other recreational activities” (9.3%) for medical institutions, and “performances/exhibitions” (14.0%) and “visits to historic sites such as ancient palaces or royal tombs” (14.0%) for agencies. Taxis were the main transportation used by tourists among medical institutions (42.7%), while “transportation provided by the agency” (32.0%) was the response among agencies.

◇ Tourism activities preferred by medical tourists. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News

Both medical institutions and agencies selected China and Russia as the countries from which the organizations made the most efforts to attract foreign patients. Additionally, 47.3% of medical institutions responded that they assign specialized service personnel in charge of foreign patients, and 60% responded that they provide personnel support services such as translation.

Regarding main considerations among foreign patients when selecting a destination for medical tourism, there was a slight difference in perspective according to ailment types between medical institutions and agencies. In general, however, “skills of the medical team” and “reputation of medical institutions and doctors” were selected as the most significant factors.

While providing tourism information as part of local convenience services for medical tourists and companions visiting Korea, medical institutions pointed out that the biggest difficulty is “lack of translated tourism information” (30.7%), while agencies responded that it is “insufficient travel packages for medical tourism in Korea” (34.0%).

In 2012, 62.1% of all medical tourists came to Seoul, showing a regional bias similar to that of regular tourists. This was followed by Gyeonggi Province at 12.3%, a reduction from 19.2% in 2009 due to aggressive marketing strategies implemented by other local governments.

“To vitalize medical tourism in Gyeonggi Province, it is necessary to create synergy effects by forming a Gyeonggi medical tourism cluster, establishing a cooperative association and joint brand, unifying related administrative organizations, enacting ordinance, and establishing a medical tour information center in Gyeonggi Province,” said Lee.

ⓒGyeonggi G-News | Chun Kyeong-nam ckn0403@kg21.net 

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