Pharmacy purchases are standing out among foreign tourists visiting South Korea this year. Dermatology accounted for more than half of all medical spending, while pharmacy spending rose nearly threefold from a year earlier, expanding its share of the total.
Foreign tourists spent 1.8398 trillion won ($1.3 billion) on medical services in Korea from January through September, up 57.9% from the same period last year, according to medical tourism data released by the Korea Tourism Data Lab on the 18th.
The number of medical transactions over the same period reached 4,427,613, up 69.0% year-on-year and outpacing the growth in spending. That means the average payment per transaction fell about 6.6% even as overall medical spending by foreign tourists expanded. The sharp increase in the share of pharmacy visits, which carry relatively small payments, is seen as driving the decline in the average transaction value.
The spending and transaction figures are based on payment data from four international card brands — Visa, Mastercard, JCB and American Express — provided by Shinhan Card.
By specialty, dermatology's share of total medical spending rose to 55.72% this year from 53.72% last year, a gain of 2.00 percentage points. Plastic surgery, by contrast, fell 5.18 percentage points to 19.35% from 24.53%.
Plastic surgery's share of spending declined from 22.46% in January to 19.00% in September, staying below year-earlier levels in all nine months. The rise in dermatology spending by foreign tourists is seen as reflecting how global enthusiasm for K-beauty has broadened interest in Korean cosmetics into demand for skin care and cosmetic procedures.
Pharmacy Spending Triples From Last Year
Pharmacy spending grew even faster than dermatology. Pharmacy purchases from January through September rose an estimated 196.1% from the same period last year, nearly tripling.
As a result, pharmacies' share of total medical spending climbed to 12.49% from 6.66% in the same period last year, a rise of 5.83 percentage points. The number of pharmacy transactions also more than doubled, rising 105.3%.
Pharmacies accounted for 68.97% of all medical transactions this year, up 12.22 percentage points from 56.75% last year. That means roughly seven out of every 10 medical transactions by foreign tourists took place at a pharmacy.
What has drawn particular attention is the Korean practice of dispensing medication in individually packaged pouches. In the United States and elsewhere in North America, prescription drugs are typically dispensed in plastic bottles with dosage instructions on the label. In major European countries, medicines are often handed over in the manufacturer's original box or blister packaging.
Unfamiliar with Korea's practice of repackaging medication into single doses, tourists have posted a range of reactions on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, including "Korean medicine packets have the name and the time written right on them" and "I wish they did this in my country."
Pharmacies' monthly share of spending rose from 10.26% in January to 12.94% in May, then fluctuated before reaching 13.99% in August and 13.88% in September, showing a broad upward trend. Notably, the pharmacy share was higher than the year-earlier level in every month from January through September, indicating the gain was not confined to any particular period.
The average pharmacy transaction value is also estimated to have risen about 44.2% from last year, showing that spending per visit grew along with the number of transactions.
"Medical tourism to Korea has recently shown a pattern of high-value, convergent spending that extends from medical services to pharmacy and cosmetics shopping," said Moon So-yeon, head of the medical wellness team at the Korea Tourism Organization. "We will continue to expand convergent products that combine medical services with K-beauty and shopping infrastructure to satisfy medical tourists."