Foreign Patient Medical Spending Up 39% in First Half... Dermatology Expenditure Soars 50%

KHIDI: Medical Card Spending Reaches 1.42 Trillion Won in January-June
Medical Sector Accounts for 46% of All Foreign Card Spending
Medical Spending Per Card Rises 30%... Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Make Up 72%

In the first half of this year, card spending by foreign patients using domestic medical services in Korea saw a significant increase. More than 60% of the total increase in card spending was driven by the medical sector, with consumption rising rapidly not only in cosmetic medical fields such as dermatology but also in treatment areas like internal medicine, orthopedics, and dentistry.

According to an analysis conducted on August 27 by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute using domestic payment data from overseas-issued cards provided by Hana Card, foreign patients’ spending on domestic cards between January and June amounted to 3.0973 trillion won, reflecting a 25.6% increase compared to the same period last year. This analysis compared spending patterns of overseas-issued cards used in the domestic medical sector during the first half of 2025 and 2026.

The medical sector's growth was especially notable. Card spending in the medical sector in the first half stood at 1.4203 trillion won, up 38.6% from a year earlier, while non-medical sectors increased to 1.677 trillion won, a growth of 16.3%. The growth rate in the medical sector was approximately 2.4 times higher than that of non-medical sectors.

The share of the medical sector in total card usage also rose from 41.6% to 45.9%, a 4.3 percentage point increase. Of the total rise in card spending (630.8 billion won), the medical sector accounted for 395.3 billion won, or 62.7%.

The increase in medical spending was not solely a result of more people using medical services. The number of transactions in the medical sector climbed by 23.8%, and the average amount spent per transaction also rose by 11.9%, from 838,000 won to 938,000 won. This indicates that both the frequency and the spending amount per visit increased.

Even in comparison to the rise in inbound foreign visitors, the growth in medical spending was evident. In the first half of this year, the number of inbound foreign visitors reached 10.71 million, up 21.3% year-on-year, while card spending by foreign patients increased by 25.6%. Notably, the growth rate for medical sector usage was 38.6% — 17.3 percentage points higher than the increase in inbound visitors. The Institute analyzed the relative increase in medical sector spending, taking into account the growth in inbound visitors, to be approximately 14.2%.

Among the top 14 countries in card spending, the expansion in ‘per capita spending’ was particularly prominent. While the number of inbound visitors grew by 22.0% and the number of cards used in the medical sector rose just 1.0%, the average amount spent per card in the medical sector increased by 30.1%. As a result, total medical sector spending from these countries jumped from 778.4 billion won to 1.0231 trillion won, a 31.4% increase. However, the Institute clarified that the number of cards used does not exactly match the number of individual foreign patients.

By medical specialty, dermatology effectively led the increase in medical spending by foreign patients. Card spending in dermatology during the first half reached 768.5 billion won, a year-on-year increase of 49.5%, accounting for 54.1% of all medical sector spending. The increase for dermatology amounted to approximately 254.3 billion won, making up 64.3% of the overall growth in the medical sector. Spending on plastic surgery also rose by 16.6% to 256.1 billion won. Combined, spending on dermatology and plastic surgery totaled 1.0246 trillion won, marking a 39.6% increase from the previous year, and their share in the total medical sector also gained slightly from 71.6% to 72.1%.

Foreign patient medical spending was not limited to cosmetic medicine. Spending on internal medicine was 100.1 billion won, up 66.5% year-on-year, orthopedics reached 10.7 billion won, up 60.9%, and dentistry recorded 49.9 billion won, up 41.0%. This demonstrates that while demand for dermatology-centered cosmetic medicine is expanding, medical spending in treatment fields is also growing.

In terms of non-medical consumption, card spending increased by 16.3%, and among sectors, pharmacies recorded the highest growth rate at 87.9%. Spending through payment gateways (PG) also rose 53.4%, showing that foreign patient consumption is expanding from shopping and daily living during their stay to online and electronic payments in Korea.

The Institute proposed that, based on this analysis, it is necessary to evaluate the success of attracting foreign patients not just by the number of patients or usage volume, but by considering per-card medical consumption, composition by specialty, share of the medical sector, and consumption in related industries including lodging, shopping, and food and beverage. It also advised diversifying medical tourism services to include treatment, medical checkups, and long-term management, while maintaining competitiveness in cosmetic medicine, tailored to the consumption characteristics of each country.

Han Dongwoo, Director of the International Medical Division at the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, said, “As domestic card spending by foreign patients is rapidly expanding, especially in the medical sector, not only is there an increase in overall spending, but changes are also emerging in per-card medical consumption and the spending structure by country and specialty. We will continue to closely monitor market changes by linking foreign patient attraction records, tourism statistics, and card spending data, and use this as foundational data to assess the impact on local medical tourism-linked industries.”

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