S.Korea’s medical tourism thrives on weak currency

Foreign visitors to South Korea jumped nearly 20% early this year, largely driven by a sharp depreciation in the country’s currency value against major foreign currencies, which has also led to a boom in Korean medical tourism.

According to data released Thursday by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), the number of foreign visitors to the country reached 3,526,514 between December 2024 and February 2025, up 19.6% from a year ago.

Considering that the period is deemed a slow season for tourism, and the country was embroiled in a political turmoil caused by a surprise martial law decree in early December, the rise in inbound visitors was somewhat “impressive,” said tourism experts.

Industry observers said a sharp fall in the Korean currency against major foreign currencies, such as the US dollar, Japanese yen and euro, has enticed foreigners’ interest in visiting Korea.

Immediately after the martial law declaration on Dec. 3, which lasted for only a few hours, the won depreciated to as low as 1,443.40 per US dollar, its lowest point since October 2022, from the 1,380 range and has traded above 1,400 since then.

MORE MEDICAL SPENDING

Driven by the weak Korean currency, inbound travelers’ spending in Asia’s fourth-largest economy also increased over the same period.

Especially, foreign tourists heavily spent on medical services in the country – mostly in dermatology and plastic surgery clinics.  

The KTO data showed that foreign travelers spent 2.64 trillion won ($1.9 billion) during their stay in Korea for four months from last December to March this year.

This is a 13% on-year gain.   

Of the total spending, 488.7 billion won was spent on medical services, marking an 80.1% on-year jump.

Skincare clinics accounted for 55.3% of their total medical spending, followed by plastic surgery clinics with 24.6% and big medical centers offering comprehensive health checkup services with 7.9%.

The weak Korean won, which buoys the value of major foreign currencies, makes dermatology clinics’ aesthetic services and plastic surgery cheaper for foreign visitors to Korea.

Korea is globally renowned for its plastic surgery and skincare industry, with the highest number of surgeries per population.

The data also showed that the number of foreign visitors to Gangnam, a beauty clinic hub in Seoul, has recently shot up, underscoring a rise in demand for such medical services among inbound travelers.

A majority of such clinic visitors received cosmetic dermatology services such as derma filler, laser and Botox treatments, said a medical staff member at a local plastic surgery clinic.

Many of the patients were from Asian countries, such as China, Japan and Thailand.

But tourism industry experts noted that the Korean tourism boom, driven by the weak currency effect, is not sustainable.

“It is important to improve Korea's national image, impaired by the recent political upheaval, to keep the tourism boom,” said Chung Ran-soo, a professor at Hanyang University’s tourism department.

Write to Kim Young-Ri at smartkim@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.