UAE patients highest spending medical tourists in South Korea
The Korea National Tourism Organization will host this year’s edition of the Korea Medical & Wellness Travel Mart in Dubai. The event will be held from Sept. 22-23 at the InterContinental Dubai Festival City Hotel.
According to a recent report from the Korea National Tourism Organization, more than 3,562 tourists from the UAE had visited Korea for medical purposes in 2016 — reflecting a 20.9 percent increase as compared to the previous year. As such, a total of 364,189 tourists coming from 190 countries were recorded to have visited South Korea for medical treatments and services last year, showing an increase of 22.67 percent.
Senior officials of the tourism body said the two-day event will prove to be “an excellent and strategic platform to showcase South Korea’s advanced and world-class medical services, while also promoting the country’s strength as a tourist haven.”
The Medical & Wellness Travel Mart will feature the participation of around 30 of Korea’s leading medical institutes and cultural organizations. The event is aimed toward increasing awareness about Korea’s medical services and treatments that potential tourists from the UAE can avail themselves of during their period of travel. Korean cultural organizations will provide workshops to highlight Korean traditional clothing, accessories, and food, while giving visitors the opportunity to experience Korea’s best tourist attractions through virtual reality (VR).
“We are looking forward to host this edition of the Medical & Wellness Travel Mart in Dubai, which will give us the opportunity to tap into a large base of potential tourists in search of an ideal medical tourism destination,” said Kyoosang Kang, regional director, Korea National Tourism Organization — Dubai.
He added: “Our recent studies have shown that UAE nationals have the highest average medical spending per patient among Korea’s international patients, recorded at $10,557. We are hoping that this event will promote South Korea’s medical tourism sector and attract more UAE tourists to visit the country.”
As part of the Medical & Wellness Travel Mart 2017, Korea National Tourism Organization will also host a special medical and beauty event for the UAE’s major women’s committees. Three Korean hospitals and beauty clinics will conduct seminars on issues relating to women’s health, beauty trends and current medical treatments for women.