The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) office in Vietnam and eight South Korean hospitals on June 5 introduced medical tourism services in HCMC in a bid to woo potential customers who have the demand for medical treatment and cosmetic surgery in Korea.

Customers seek information on skin care treatment in HCMC

The hospitals offered a wide range of services such as general health checks, cosmetic surgery and skin care treatment. They pledged to support their clients in completing necessary procedures for obtaining medical tourism visas.

Many local customers have expressed their keen interest in cosmetic surgery, skin care treatment and other beauty services, and have got in touch with hospitals in South Korea to have a better understanding of their services. Tour operators therefore also followed the same move to diversify their tours to Vietnam.

Local travel firms have also confirmed the interest.

“We have run tours to South Korea for many years. This time we would like to combine the service so that employees of local beauty salons and health spas could visit South Korea for tourism, and study beautification services there,” said Cao Pham Hang, director of Viet Jet Tours.

Data from KTO Vietnam shows that nearly 7,500 Vietnamese citizens visited South Korea for medical tourism last year, accounting for 2.3% of the total. However, the medical tourism market has much room for growth, and the number of Vietnamese visitors going abroad for cosmetic surgery has been on the rise.

Therefore, hospitals and tour operators are striving to promote their services. The growth rate is expected to reach around 20% on an annual basis.

KTO has set up a website to introduce medical tourism services called Visit Medical Korea at visitmedicalkorea.com.

“We introduce prestigious hospitals and travel consulting firms so that Vietnamese customers who have selected services and hospitals can have peace of mind to visit the country, as there have already had organizations preparing for necessary procedures,” said Nguyen Thu Ha, Public Relations Manager at KTO Vietnam.

The eight hospitals joining the introductory trip consisted of Asan Medical Center, Cheongshim International Medical Center, St. Peter’s Hospital, Grand Plastic Surgery Hospital, Banobagi Plastic and Aesthetic Clinic, Divine Plastic Surgery, Faceline Plastic Surgery, and Chung Yeon Korean Medicine Hospital.

SGT