Korean medical tourism to increase next year

Vietnam-based representative offices of Korean travel agencies will push up meditours, the type of tourism connected with medical healthcare in Korea, next year.
Those offices play an intermediary role in helping Vietnamese tourists find hospitals and doctors to meet their health care demands.
According to those offices, most guests who go to Korea look for beauty services, cosmetic surgery or treatment for illnesses such as cancer or rheumatism which require long-term therapeutic methods in oriental or western medicine.
Bui Quang Hung, office manager of Intermedical Travel Co. Ltd., told the Daily that before sending people to Korea, his company would have tourist’s health checked and diagnosed in a Vietnamese clinic or by a Vietnamese doctor working at the company’s offices.
Choi Sung Mi, chief manager of marketing at EZMeditour Co. Ltd., which now has an office in the Miss Ao Dai Building in HCMC’s District 1, said, “There are some dozens of tour operators in Korea in this type of tourism but most of their guests are from China and America.”
EZMeditour has welcomed about 200 guests to Korea for treatment although this enterprise has operated only a year.
“We are looking for partners who are Vietnamese travel firms to extend meditours to meet the demands of Vietnamese tourists wanting to travel to Korea for beauty care and sickness treatment,” Choi said.
Hung said that in January, Intermedical Travel Co. would open offices in Hanoi and HCMC.
Since meditours are a kind of tourism, related travel companies take care of visas, air tickets, hospitals, medical exams and treatment, and provide interpreters for tourists during their stay.
Tour fees depend on the stay period and the health status of each person, but according to Hung, it costs over US$1,100 a week for travel fees alone.
Choi also said that package tours cost over US$4,000 on average per week for facial surgery.