SEOUL: Mexican Maria Zu first visited Seoul eight years in the past to tour the cafes and parks of the capital of South Korea, however spent a key a part of her newest journey in April in skincare clinics, beneath the gaze of docs wielding laser wands and injection needles.
“We really feel protected coming to this nation for our faces,” mentioned the Dubai-based advisor, one among tens of millions of magnificence fans now boosting South Korea’s tourism numbers and economic system as they throng its hundreds of skincare clinics.
However lately vacationers like Zu search remedies corresponding to purple mild remedy or Botox to easy out wrinkles, in addition to ultrasound “pores and skin lifting” to tighten jawlines, not simply the nostril jobs and double eyelid surgical procedure of earlier years.
“The expansion of international sufferers is outpacing that of international vacationers,” mentioned Hong Seung-wook, director of world healthcare enterprise on the Korea Well being Trade Improvement Institute. His division is tasked by the nation’s well being ministry to draw international sufferers.
FOREIGN VISITORS SPEND MORE ON MEDICAL SERVICES
Simply over 2 million foreigners visited South Korea final 12 months for medical therapy, practically double the 2024 determine of 1.17 million, the well being ministry mentioned in April.
“We now see international vacationers spend extra on medical companies than on tourism in Korea,” mentioned Hong, including that well being authorities hoped to maintain up the momentum by selling companies corresponding to anti-aging remedies to middle-aged guests.
Zu, a former flight attendant who has visited South Korea at the least six instances, mentioned she tended to pack a number of non-invasive remedies right into a single journey.
That may be a rising development exemplified by hashtags corresponding to “#koreaglowup, opens new tab”, standard amongst customers of social media corresponding to Instagram.
The foremost points of interest are price and South Korean experience in magnificence strategies that allows it to supply applied sciences and strategies usually years forward of these within the West.
A number of guests informed Reuters that skincare remedies in South Korea could possibly be as a lot as a fifth cheaper than these at residence, whereas communication was not an issue, as many clinics employed multilingual coordinators.
“I like that there’s a number of Ok-beauty remedies usually that aren’t even supplied within the US,” mentioned Cindy Gu, a 30-year-old social media video editor from america.
She was ready to endure a facial lifting therapy at Lienjang, opens new tab, a magnificence clinic in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district.
COMPETITION IS KEY TO AFFORDABILITY
Competitors is the important thing to affordability, mentioned Se-rin Lee, director of Lienjang’s aesthetic dermatology division, as there are such a lot of magnificence clinics in South Korea.
“The competitors is pushing the costs of companies down,” she mentioned, including that Lienjang’s international sufferers averaged about 100 a day, every with a mean spend of about 1.5 million gained ($1,000).
About 15,000 clinics provide skincare remedies, largely run by common practitioners moderately than dermatologists, the Affiliation of Korean Dermatologists says.
