Gwangju and Jeolla Medical Tourism

How many registered hospitals and clinics are behind Gwangju and Jeolla medical tourism?

123 in 2022, adding the three regions together. Gwangju had 96, Jeonbuk 17 and Jeonnam 10, so 78.0% of them were in Gwangju (96 ÷ 123).

Together the three regions make up 6.1% of the national figure (123 ÷ 2,023). The source has no national row, so the 2,023 is the sum of the 17 regional values. What is counted is hospitals and clinics that have registered with their city or provincial governor in order to attract foreign patients. The number of foreign patients treated in Gwangju or the Jeolla provinces is not in this file.

How has the number of Gwangju and Jeolla medical tourism institutions changed over the years?

The combined count started at 43 in 2009 and was highest in 2016, at 135. It was 75 in 2017 and 53 in 2021, then rose to 123 in 2022.

In 2017 the combined count was 60 lower than the year before, and all three regions fell: Gwangju from 67 to 36, Jeonbuk from 32 to 19 and Jeonnam from 36 to 20. June 22 of that year was the deadline for institutions registered before the Act took effect in June 2016 to renew their registration. The national account is in Why Korea's Registered Hospitals Fell from 3,115 to 1,664 in 2017.

The count fell by 27 in 2020. In 2022 it rose by 70: Gwangju added 69 and Jeonbuk 2, while Jeonnam lost 1. Gwangju went from 27 in 2021 to 96 in 2022, its highest figure in any year since 2009. The source holds yearly numbers only, so the reason for the change in Gwangju is not known. What happened nationwide in those years is covered in What Happened to Korea's Registered Hospitals During COVID-19?.

How large is Gwangju and Jeolla medical tourism compared with the rest of Korea?

6.1% of the national total in 2022, the highest share in any year since 2009. The lowest was 3.0% in 2009, and the share in 2021 was 3.3%.

Gwangju ranked 5th of the 17 regions in 2022, behind Seoul, Busan, Daegu and Incheon. Jeonbuk was 12th and Jeonnam 15th, with 27 institutions between them. Figures for every region are in Korea Medical Tourism Hospitals by Region.

Where can you find Gwangju and Jeolla medical tourism figures after 2022?

In a list dated 21 Jul 2026, which has 101 medical institutions and 37 facilitators in the three regions. The yearly statistics themselves go no further than 2022.

On the list, Gwangju has 56, Jeonbuk 27 and Jeonnam 18. The 123 in the 2022 statistics and the 101 on the list were not counted on the same basis, so subtracting or dividing one by the other to say the number "fell" is not valid. The statistics do not define their figures, while the list has one row for each institution whose status was recorded as "maintained" on 21 Jul 2026. The three regions account for 2.4% of the 4,188 medical institutions on the whole list (101 ÷ 4,188).

Which official offices handle Gwangju and Jeolla medical tourism?

The Medical Korea list of official websites has 4 entries for the three regions: a Gwangju city government office, the Gwangju Medical Tourism Support Center, the Jeonbuk provincial health care department and the Jeonnam provincial tourism division.

On 5 Oct 2026 the addresses of the Gwangju city government and both provincial governments opened. The address given for the Gwangju Medical Tourism Support Center (www.mediwellgj.kr) did not respond. All that was confirmed is that it did not open that day, so the table prints the address as plain text with no link. Offices in other regions are in Medical Tourism Offices in Korea by Region, and nationwide sites are in Official Medical Tourism Websites in Korea.

What should you keep in mind when reading the figures on Gwangju and Jeolla 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 national total of 2,023 includes 12 for Gyeonggi, which had 151 in 2021. The source gives no reason for that difference, and the 6.1% share for the three regions is calculated against that total. Because the yearly statistics end in 2022, they cannot show whether Gwangju's 96 carried into the following year. A higher or lower count also says nothing about the standard or cost of care at institutions in the three regions.

Where do the figures on Gwangju and Jeolla 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.