Same-day K-medical tourism has recently become popular among Japanese people. It’s a new consumption pattern where they visit a dermatology or plastic surgery clinic in Seoul’s Gangnam District in the morning and return to Japan by evening. This trend has spread through social media like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, primarily among Japanese people in their 20s and 30s, in various forms such as same-day medical tourism vlogs and shorts. A key feature is that these vlogs capture the entire beauty experience—not just the procedure itself, but also the pre- and postprocedure activities, shopping, and café visits. In July 2025, the Korea Tourism Organization collaborated with Healing Paper, the operator of the plastic surgery platform “Gangnam Unnie” with nearly 1.5 million Japanese users, to activate this social media review trend through the “K Beauty Trip to Korea” campaign. The campaign offers Olive Young discount vouchers and K-Beauty travel kits to Japanese tourists who book procedures via the Gangnam Unnie application, undergo the treatment, and post reviews on SNS. This campaign boosted aesthetic medical tourism and created spillover benefits for food and culture industries.
The reasons Japanese patients have embraced same-day medical tourism as a trend include the geographical accessibility of a brief one- to two-hour flight and the price competitiveness of Korean procedures, which are 1.5 to 3 times cheaper. As more foreigners visit Korea for these K-medical benefits, the need for professional interpreters has also grown, with demand for short-term part-time Japanese and Chinese interpreters rapidly increasing in dermatology and plastic surgery clinics. Additionally, the Seoul Metropolitan Government supports medical institutions and tourism companies with interpreters through its official interpreter coordinator pool. It also provides free services through the Medical Tourism Support Center, including medical tourism consultations, hospital guidance, legal advice for medical accidents, and dispute mediation.
Medical tourism’s blend of treatment and lifestyle consumption makes it not only attractive to visitors but also a consistently stable revenue stream for the domestic economy. According to 2024 Ministry of Health and Welfare Foreign Patient Attraction Statistical Performance Report, the total medical tourism expenditure by 1.17 million foreign patients and their companions in Korea in 2024 is estimated to reach about 7.5 trillion won. In other words, K-medical tourism is no longer just a simple medical service; it is a high-value-added industry generating economic effects across other domestic industries. It also generates youth employment, from medical staff to interpreters and tour guides.
“Medical Korea 2026,” an international medical tourism expo themed AI-Driven Global Healthcare: Bringing the Future Closer, Connecting the World, will be held at COEX in Seoul from March 19 to 22 under the auspices of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The event will bring together international buyers, healthcare experts, and domestic medical and beauty industries. This year will be pivotal for Korea as a medical tourism hub, enhancing the international recognition of K-medical tourism, expanding its global network, and strengthening the industry’s competitiveness.
Seo Jun-hee(Web Editor)
20231933@soongsil.ac.kr
