Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam Medical Tourism

How many hospitals and clinics are registered for Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam medical tourism?

228 in 2022. That is Busan's 181, Ulsan's 26 and Gyeongnam's 21 added together, or 11.3% of the 2,023 nationwide (228 ÷ 2,023).

Busan accounts for 79.4% of the three-region figure (181 ÷ 228). The source has no national total, so the nationwide number is the 17 regional values added up, and the 2022 sum includes Gyeonggi at 12. Gyeonggi was at 151 in 2021, and the source gives no reason for the difference.

A registered institution here means a hospital or clinic that has registered in order to attract foreign patients; the current law has the city or provincial governor take the registration. The number of foreign patients treated in Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam is not part of these statistics.

How have registered institutions for Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam medical tourism changed each year?

The count was highest in 2016 (418) and lowest in 2020 (135). It started at 166 in 2009 and stood at 228 in 2022.

All three regions fell in 2017. Busan is recorded at 156 after 342, Ulsan at 15 after 24 and Gyeongnam at 21 after 52, which leaves the combined figure 226 lower than the year before. That was the year in which institutions already registered had until 22 June 2017 to renew. The renewal rule and its deadline are explained in Why Korea's Registered Hospitals Fell from 3,115 to 1,664 in 2017.

The 2022 figure is 69 higher than in 2021. Busan added 51, Ulsan 14 and Gyeongnam 4 (51 + 14 + 4 = 69), and the source gives no reason for the rise. Before that, the count had fallen by 85 in 2020. National figures for the same period are in What Happened to Korea's Registered Hospitals During COVID-19?.

How large is Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam medical tourism as a share of the national total?

11.3% in 2022. Across the 14 years, the share was highest in 2015 at 13.6% and lowest in 2020 at 8.9%.

Busan ranks 2nd in 2022, behind Seoul. It was 2nd in two years, 2011 and 2022, and 3rd behind Gyeonggi in all the others. In 2011 Busan had 224 and Gyeonggi 223, a difference of 1. The 2022 rank belongs to the year in which Gyeonggi is recorded at 12 after 151, and the national total used for the shares includes the same value. Ulsan ranks 8th and Gyeongnam 11th.

To compare all 17 regions in one table, see Korea Medical Tourism Hospitals by Region. How far registrations are concentrated in Seoul is the subject of Six in Ten Registered Hospitals for Foreign Patients Are in Seoul.

Where can you find Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam medical tourism figures after 2022?

The yearly statistics end with 2022. A list dated 21 Jul 2026 names 387 medical institutions in the three regions: 335 in Busan, 15 in Ulsan and 37 in Gyeongnam.

For Ulsan the list shows a smaller number than the 2022 statistics, and for Busan and Gyeongnam a larger one. Neither can be read as a rise or a fall over the years in between. The list is a file with one row per institution whose status was "maintained" on 21 Jul 2026, and the yearly statistics do not define what they count. Within the list the three regions hold 9.2%, and their facilitators number 170.

Which official offices handle Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam medical tourism?

4 in all: 2 for Busan, 1 for Ulsan and 1 for Gyeongnam. The Medical Korea list of official websites gives their names as Busan Metropolitan City Tourism & MICE Industry Bureau, Busan Tourism Organization, Ulsan Metropolitan City Food and Drug Safety Division and Gyeongsangnam-do Tourism Promotion Department.

On 5 Oct 2026, all 4 addresses opened. Busan is listed with a city bureau and the Busan Tourism Organization, while Ulsan and Gyeongnam each have a government division only. Every address is the home page of the body concerned. All 22 local governments and regional bodies are in Medical Tourism Offices in Korea by Region.

What should you keep in mind when reading the figures on Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam medical tourism?

The source file does not define its figures. Neither the file nor the portal description says whether a number is the count of institutions holding a registration at year end or the count registered during that year. It is also a different statistic from the number of patients treated.

The 2022 share for Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam is calculated from a national total that includes Gyeonggi at 12, and Busan's 2nd place is likewise the rank for a year in which Gyeonggi is recorded at that value. Ulsan's numbers are small, 7 in 2020 and 26 in 2022, so a difference of a few institutions shows up as a large percentage. The source holds counts only and cannot tell you about the quality or cost of care in the three regions. It has no city or district figures either.

Where do the figures on Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam medical tourism come from, and how were they calculated?

The figures are taken as published from "Medical institutions registered to attract foreign patients, by year and region", a file the Korea Health Industry Development Institute released on the Korean Public Data Portal (data as of 31 Dec 2022). The file lists 17 regions and has no national total, so K-Medical Tourism Institute added the 17 regional values to get the nationwide figures, and calculated shares and changes from the same values.

The 21 Jul 2026 figures are counts by region and institution type from "Registered institutions and facilitators for foreign patients (list)", a 6,921-row list published by the same institute. 33 rows have the word "test" in the institution or representative name. They could not be told apart from real entries with certainty and were left in, so the true number of institutions may be slightly lower.

The list reproduces the names and addresses of the 36 entries in "Medical Korea list of useful websites for medical tourism", published by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute on the Korean Public Data Portal (data as of 29 Aug 2023). The source has no categories or regions; K-Medical Tourism Institute added them. The link check is K-Medical Tourism Institute's own: each address was opened on 5 Oct 2026, with 32 opening, 1 with a changed path, 1 that could not be verified automatically and 2 not responding.