Where foreign visitors’ beauty money actually goes
Dermatology is 55.7% of medical tourism spending. Plastic surgery is 21.1%.
Foreign card spending in Korea passed 2 trillion won in a single month for the first time in May 2026. The composition of that number is more interesting than its size.
| Category | Year-on-year change |
|---|---|
| Pharmacies | +206.1% |
| Skin care and massage | +153.9% |
| Dermatology clinics | +85.5% |
| Medical tourism overall | +33.2% |
Within medical tourism spending, dermatology accounts for 55.7% and plastic surgery for 21.1% — a ratio that has quietly inverted the stereotype of what people fly to Seoul for. The growth is in same-day, low-commitment procedures, not in surgery.
The pharmacy figure is the one worth noticing if you are planning a trip: a 206% jump means the queue is no longer only at Olive Young, and that the things people are flying home with are increasingly the ones sold behind a counter.
Spending is also spreading past Seoul, to Jeju and Busan, and within Seoul past Myeongdong — to Hongdae, Gangnam, Seongsu and the Sinnonhyeon area.
Sources — The Korea Times
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