BUSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

The number of medical tourists to Busan rose sharply last year.

Busan City said on February 24th that the number of tourists to Busan was 5,921 last year, increases by 1,245 or 26.6% compared to the previous year.

By nation, Russia topped the list with 1,709 tourists, followed by China (867), Japan (684), and the U.S. (611).

Busan plans to divide the City into three: the downtown area centered on Seomyeon Medical Street, the eastern area of Haeundae and East-Busan Tourism Complex, and the western area where university hospitals are concentrated. Each area will be specialized to lure medical tourists.

Currently, medical tourism is focused on health check-ups and cosmetic surgeries. In order to attract patients with advanced or chronic diseases, leisure and resort facilities will be expanded.

Director Park Ho-guk of Health and Welfare Division said “we have trained 117 coordinators and secured about 400 interpreters in 10 languages to vitalize the medical tourism” and added “the administrative support, expansion of medical facilities, and aggressive overseas promotional activities started to generate tangible results.”

Busan plans to crack down on illegal medical activities from next month for the safety of medical tourists.

Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Feb. 24, 2011)

**This is an English translation of a Korean news article.