The reputation of South Korea as a world leader in the field has inspired the Seoul Metropolitan Government to launch a project to attract more foreign tourists looking for cosmetic surgery.
The cosmetic surgery boom in South Korea has been accelerated by the so-called Korean Wave, a boom across Asia in South Korean pop culture, which includes TV dramas performed by actors and actresses with flawlessly chiseled features. The Korean Wave has been instrumental in spreading the image of Korean beauty, which has in turn stimulated the boom in aesthetic medical tourism. Cosmetic surgeons in Seoul have an increasing number of patients from China and Southeast Asia who request operations to make them look like South Korean actresses. Some of the surgeons are said to work on 30 to 40 patients a month. There are 1300 plastic surgeons in Seoul.
The tourism promotion policy emphasizing cosmetic surgery, for which the country has an international competitive edge, includes a plan to build a complex of medical institutions, accommodation and facilities for aftercare. According to the city government they have appointed a company to implement the project. The city is planning to establish a centre, tentatively called the Seoul Center for Aesthetic Medical Tourism General Support.
The centre will have multilingual counseling staff and would introduce cosmetic surgeons or dermatologists to tourists, or bring tourists to them. It will also dispatch interpreters specialized in the fields to hospitals caring for the centre's clients. It will have its own website and a range of brochures in foreign languages to promote cosmetic surgery. “There are many foreign tourists who come to get plastic surgery here because of South Korea's reputation as having high-end plastic surgery technology. We'd like to pinpoint this demand and stimulate it," a city official in charge of the project said.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has opened up a new one-stop service centre to provide help to foreign nationals, investors and travellers. Named the Seoul Global Center, it was launched in mid-January. The centre was set up as part of efforts to develop Seoul into a global city favorable to foreign visitors and residents after the city government announced "Plans for the Globalization of Seoul" last July. The initial goal is to improve the business, residential, cultural and tourism environments for all foreign nationals. One service it offers is a medical referral service.
Source: http://english.seoul.go.kr
No comments:
Post a Comment