"Jealous of Koreans" - Now a Must-Do on Every Trip... The Place Where Foreigners Spent KRW 229.8 Billion

Pharmacy spending surges 196%... Shopping linked to dermatology treatments spreads
Medical spending totals KRW 1.8398 trillion in Jan.-Sep.... Dermatology accounts for 55.7%
Plastic surgery spending rises, but growth slows... Share falls to 19.4%

Medical spending by foreign tourists visiting Korea is changing. A new consumption trend is emerging in which visitors buy skincare products at pharmacies after receiving cosmetic procedures at dermatology clinics. This year, foreign tourists’ spending at pharmacies in Korea has nearly tripled from last year, and seven out of every 10 medical-related card transactions took place at pharmacies. The areas of spending in K-medical tourism, once centered on plastic surgery, are expanding to include skincare and purchases of cosmetics and health products.

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According to the Korea Tourism Data Lab of the Korea Tourism Organization and industry sources on the 19th, foreign tourists’ medical spending in Korea totaled 1.8398 trillion won from January to September this year, up 57.9% from 1.1653 trillion won in the same period last year. The number of transactions over the same period increased 69.0%, from 2,620,572 to 4,427,613.

As the total number of transactions grew faster than spending, the average transaction amount fell by about 6.6%. This is believed to reflect a sharp rise in the share of visits to pharmacies, where transactions tend to be relatively small.

The most notable change was spending at pharmacies. Foreign tourists’ spending at pharmacies from January to September this year was estimated at about 229.8 billion won, up 196.1% from the same period last year. Pharmacies’ share of total medical spending rose by 5.83 percentage points, from 6.66% last year to 12.49% this year.

The increase in pharmacy transactions was also pronounced, offering an indication of the scale of visits. The number of pharmacy transactions rose 105.3% from a year earlier, and their share of all medical-related transactions jumped from 56.75% to 68.97%. The average amount per pharmacy transaction also increased 44.2%. This means that visitors made more pharmacy purchases and spent more on each visit.

Dermatology clinics have also become a key spending destination for K-medical tourism. Spending at dermatology clinics from January to September this year increased 63.8% from the same period last year. Their share of total medical spending rose from 53.72% to 55.72%. In every month through September this year, spending at dermatology clinics accounted for more than half of total medical spending, and the share was higher than in the same month a year earlier in every month.

Foreign tourists shopping at a pharmacy in Myeong-dong. Yonhap News.

By contrast, plastic surgery’s share of spending fell by 5.18 percentage points over the same period, from 24.53% to 19.35%. Spending at plastic surgery clinics itself increased 24.5%, but grew more slowly than spending at dermatology clinics and pharmacies. Analysts say the market, once centered on plastic surgery, is changing as dermatology’s share of total medical spending has grown from more than one-third to over half.

The trend is also reflected in statistics on foreign patients. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of foreign patients who visited Korea last year reached 2.01 million, surpassing 2 million for the first time. Of these, 1.313 million visited dermatology clinics, accounting for 62.9% of patients tallied by medical specialty. Plastic surgery patients numbered 233,000, or 11.2%. The number of dermatology patients increased 86.2% from 2024.

Interest in K-beauty and health-related products has helped pharmacies emerge as a new tourist shopping destination. According to an analysis released last month by Orange Square, operator of the foreign-customer payment platform WOWPASS, pharmacy spending in the first half of this year was about 10 times higher than in the same period two years earlier. The number of transactions also increased about fivefold.

An analysis of WOWPASS app reviews that identified the purpose of visits found that 72% were for purchasing beauty and health products, far exceeding the 28% for treatment. Rejuvenating creams and other skincare creams were mentioned most often, followed by acne and blemish care products, supplements and health functional foods, skincare cosmetics, and artificial tears.

Tourists’ shopping itineraries are also changing. Rather than stopping at browsing cosmetics stores, they are combining dermatology treatments and pharmacy shopping in a single itinerary. As more visitors buy skincare products they have seen on social media or look for products to use after treatments, pharmacies are drawing attention as a new K-beauty shopping destination.

Medical spending by foreign visitors to Korea totaled 1.8398 trillion won from January to September this year, up 57.9% from the same period last year. Pharmacy payments surged 196.1% to about 229.8 billion won. Pharmacies’ share of total medical spending also rose from 6.66% to 12.49%. Source: Korea Tourism Data Lab, Korea Tourism Organization.

Myeong-dong has recently seen a steady, rapid expansion of its pharmacy district. According to public data from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 23 pharmacies opened in Seoul’s Myeong-dong from January to September this year, more than double the 11 that opened over the whole of last year. A roughly 200-meter stretch of Myeongdongjungang-gil was found to have eight operating pharmacies and two more preparing to open.

As pharmacy shopping by tourists increases, established cosmetics retailers are also responding. CJ Olive Young opened an “Advanced Derma” section featuring dermatology-based products for the first time at its Central Myeongdong Town store, which opened in March. As pharmacies and cosmetics specialty stores increasingly overlap in the products they sell, competition over skincare products is also intensifying.

The tourism industry is taking note of a multifaceted consumption trend that links medical services with purchases of cosmetics and health products. Moon Soyeon, head of the Medical Wellness Team at the Korea Tourism Organization, recently said that medical tourism to Korea is evolving into an integrated consumption pattern that extends from medical services to pharmacy visits and cosmetics shopping. She added that the organization would expand offerings combining medical services, K-beauty, and shopping infrastructure.

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