"Only in Korea": 1 in 5 Foreign Visitors Head Here First

Korea Culture and Tourism Institute: "2024–2025 Spending Patterns of Major Visitors to Korea"

Medical Services Top Expenditure in Korea at 20.1%—the Only Country Among Six Where This is the Case

United States and Australia Focus on Dining an

Foreign tourists visiting South Korea spent the most at hospitals and department stores. In contrast, tourists of the same nationalities spent more at restaurants and hotels in the United States and Australia, and at luxury and fashion stores in Japan and Hong Kong. This highlights how medical, beauty, and premium shopping—clearly defined objectives—distinguish South Korea as a destination.

Medical staff at a domestic medical institution are treating foreign patients. According to an analysis by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, medical expenses accounted for the largest share at 20.1% of the total spending by tourists from Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand visiting Korea. Incheon Tourism Organization

According to the "Recent Two-Year Spending Patterns of Major Source Countries’ Tourists to Korea by Country and Industry" report published by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute on July 24, 2026, medical expenses accounted for the largest share at 20.1% among payments made in Korea via VISA cards by tourists from Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand from 2024 to 2025. This was followed by premium shopping at 18.3%, daily shopping at 13.0%, dining at 12.2%, fashion accessories at 10.4%, and accommodation at 9.9%. Among the six countries compared—South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States, and Australia—South Korea was the only destination where medical services topped the expenditure list.

Spending priorities shifted depending on the destination. In the United States, dining accounted for 25.4% and accommodation for 24.3%, together making up nearly half of the total expenditures. In Australia, dining was the highest at 25.6%, followed by accommodation at 13.6%. Singaporean expenditures were led by dining at 22.6%, premium shopping at 18.6%, and accommodation at 16.9%. In Japan, premium shopping stood out at 37.0%, and in Hong Kong, both premium shopping and fashion accessories stood at 25.0%, highlighting a strong emphasis on shopping in these locations.

The concentration of medical spending in Korea becomes even clearer when broken down by nationality. Japanese tourists spent 22.3% of their payments in Korea on medical services, which was higher than their shares for premium shopping at 13.8% and for both dining and daily shopping at 12.6%. By comparison, the share of medical expenses paid by Japanese tourists in other destinations was just 1.3% in Hong Kong, 2.3% in Singapore, 0.8% in the United States, and 1.9% in Australia.

Similarly, Thai tourists spent 27.3% on premium shopping and 18.2% on medical expenses in Korea. In Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States, and Australia, medical expenses accounted for only 0.4% to 2.8%. Singaporean tourists spent 21.8% of their Korean expenditures on premium shopping and 17.2% on medical services, while their medical spending in other destinations remained at 1.7% to 2.9%.

The "per capita real tourism expenditure index," which adjusts for price levels in each country, also showed Korea as having the highest concentration of medical spending. Taking Korea’s spending index as 100, the index for Japanese tourists' medical spending in other countries ranged from 2.8 to 11.3; for Thai tourists, from 1.8 to 11.1; and for Singaporean tourists, from 8.0 to 12.5. This means that per capita medical payments in other countries were only about 2–13% of the level seen in Korea. The report classified an industry as "Korea-concentrated" if its index was 50 or below compared to Korea.

Foreign tourist expenditure structure by major destinations. Comparing the VISA payments of tourists from Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand from 2024 to 2025, medical expenses accounted for the largest share of 20.1% in Korea. Among the six countries compared, Korea was the only one where medical expenses ranked first, while shopping was dominant in Japan and Hong Kong, and dining and accommodation expenses were prominent in the United States, Australia, and Singapore.

Beauty spending was also consistently high in Korea. The proportion of Korean beauty expenditures among the four nationalities ranged from 6.6% to 7.5%, showing little variation by nationality. Japanese tourists’ beauty spending indices in other destinations, compared to Korea, ranged from 6.0 to 43.6. For Thai tourists, the indices were 9.1 in Hong Kong, 12.7 in Singapore, and 42.7 in Japan—all well below half the Korean level.

On the other hand, spending on dining and accommodation was relatively high in the United States and Australia. Japanese tourists’ dining expenditure indices were 282.5 in Singapore, 223.4 in the United States, and 212.6 in Australia. Their accommodation expenditure indices were 302.7 in the United States and 276.1 in Singapore.

Vietnamese tourists posted dining expenditure indices of 564.8 in the United States, 257.0 in Australia, and 230.8 in Hong Kong. Accommodation indices were 285.8 in the United States, 283.4 in Hong Kong, and 204.9 in Singapore—all higher than in Korea. For Singaporean and Thai tourists, dining indices in the United States were 229.6 and 292.1, respectively, and accommodation indices were 203.6 and 279.9, respectively.

For travel agencies and theme parks, spending was also higher in other destinations. Japanese tourists’ travel agency expenditure indices were 2,494.4 in Australia, 1,028.9 in Hong Kong, 871.0 in Singapore, and 733.4 in the United States. For Thai tourists, the travel agency index exceeded 200 in all five comparison countries.

In terms of overall consumption scale, Korea lagged somewhat behind. With Korea’s per capita real tourism expenditure index set at 100 for Japanese tourists, the indices were 111.3 in Singapore and 105.8 in the United States. For Singaporean tourists, the indices were 122.6 in the United States and 110.9 in Japan, both higher than Korea. Vietnamese tourists recorded 307.8 in Hong Kong, 274.3 in the United States, 204.5 in Singapore, 172.7 in Australia, and 102.5 in Japan, with all comparison countries exceeding the figure for Korea. Thus, strong concentration on medical and shopping did not necessarily translate into higher total spending.

However, this analysis only covers VISA payments and does not account for cash, other cards, or mobile payments. It also does not control for national differences in card usage, length of stay, or purpose of visit. Furthermore, even when adjusting for countrywide price levels, the approach does not separate industry-specific price disparities, such as those in medical care, accommodation, or food service. While Korea’s concentration on medical, beauty, and shopping is evident in payment patterns, it cannot be immediately generalized to all tourists’ consumption behaviors or used as a basis for ranking national tourism competitiveness.

Kang Yongsoo, a researcher at the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, explained, "When coming to Korea, tourists tend to spend more on medical and beauty services, while expenditures on restaurants, accommodation, travel agencies, and theme parks are relatively higher when visiting other countries. This clearly demonstrates that even tourists of the same nationality exhibit very different consumption structures depending on their destination."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.