Yanolja Research

🇰🇷🏥 South Korea’s medical tourism industry is growing at a remarkable pace! In 2025, South Korea welcomed a record 2.01 million foreign patients—more than four times the pre-pandemic peak of approximately 500,000 in 2019. 📈 The growth has been especially striking in recent years: 🔸 2019: 0.50 million 🔸 2023: 0.61 million 🔸 2024: 1.17 million 🔸 2025: 2.01 million But the significance of this growth goes far beyond healthcare. 💡 Foreign patients spend approximately 2.5 times as much as general international tourists in South Korea. And 61.7% of their spending occurs outside hospitals—on accommodation, shopping, dining, transportation, and other services. This makes medical tourism a powerful driver of higher-value inbound tourism, with medical care serving as an anchor for broader travel experiences. As demand continues to expand, the next challenge is connecting medical services with the entire visitor journey—from booking and treatment to accommodation, wellness, and recovery....

Market Contribution to Inbound Visitor Growth in South Korea 🇰🇷✈️  From January to July 2026, South Korea welcomed 2.24 million more foreign visitors than during the same period in 2025, a 21.3% year-over-year increase. But where is this growth coming from? 🌏 📊 Contribution to total visitor growth: 🇨🇳 China: 38.3% (+859,000 visitors) 🇯🇵 Japan: 16.1% (+361,000) 🇹🇼 Taiwan: 15.6% (+349,000) 🇺🇸 United States: 4.4% (+100,000) 🌍 Other markets: 25.6% (+574,000) China remains the largest contributor, but the bigger story is Korea’s expanding appeal across multiple markets. Japan and Taiwan have shown particularly strong growth, exceeding early-year expectations, while rising arrivals from the U.S. and other markets signal that demand is spreading beyond neighboring countries. With growing interest in K-culture and improving travel accessibility, Yanolja Research now forecasts 23.57 million international visitors to Korea in 2026. 🔎 What’s behind this surge, and can the moment...

How affordable is it to get around South Korea compared with other major cities? 🚇🚌 A one-way public transit ride costs about $1.05 in Seoul and $1.01 in Busan—lower than Tokyo ($1.32) and Hong Kong ($1.44), and far below major cities such as London ($4.49), Berlin ($4.67), and Sydney ($3.95). Affordable public transportation is one of Korea’s key strengths as a travel destination. Lower fares can make it easier for visitors to explore more places, while leaving more room in their travel budget for dining, shopping, and local experiences. South Korea also combines relatively low fares with convenient, high-quality public transit, including punctual service, multilingual guidance, and free Wi-Fi. 📊 Learn more about the price competitiveness of Korean tourist cities in the full report. [Yanolja Research Insights Vol.40] Analysis of Price Competitiveness of Korean Tourist Cities: An International Comparison

Can a 50,000-Seat Concert Venue in South Korea Be Financially Sustainable? South Korea’s concert market is booming, fueled by K-pop’s global popularity and growing demand for large-scale performances. Yet the country faces a major challenge: its concert infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with demand. As plans for a 50,000-seat performance venue gain momentum, an important question emerges: Can a mega-sized concert venue generate enough revenue to justify its enormous investment? The answer depends on more than filling seats. Construction costs, concert demand, operating strategies, and public-private partnerships all play crucial roles. Korea’s Concert Market Is Growing, but Venue Capacity Remains Limited South Korea’s performance market has expanded rapidly in recent years, particularly in the large-scale concert segment. KRW 1.73 trillion: Total performance ticket revenue in 2025, up 1.7 times from 2022. KRW 532 billion: Ticket revenue from venues with 10,000 or more seats i...

South Korea’s inbound and outbound travel gap narrowed sharply in August. 🇰🇷✈️ Foreign arrivals reached 2.25 million, just below the 2.43 million Koreans traveling abroad. That marks a notable shift from the beginning of the year, when outbound travel was still far ahead. China was the largest source market in August, accounting for 36.9% of foreign arrivals, followed by Japan (18.6%), Taiwan (10.9%), and the U.S. (5.2%). The broader trend is also gaining momentum. Yanolja Research forecasts 23.57 million foreign visitors to South Korea in 2026, up 24.5% from 2025, with growth spreading beyond China to Japan, Taiwan, the U.S., and other markets. The key question now is how Korea can turn this growing inbound demand into higher spending, more regional travel, and repeat visits. 🔎 Read Yanolja Research Brief Vol.17 to explore what is driving Korea’s inbound growth and what could shape the rest of 2026. [Yanolja Research Brief Vol.17] Forecast of Inbound Tourist Arrivals to South Korea...

K-Medical Tourism: Turning Medical Care into High-Value Travel South Korea’s inbound tourism market is growing rapidly. Foreign arrivals reached a record 18.94 million in 2025 , while arrivals from January to July 2026 increased another 21.3% year over year . But more visitors do not automatically mean more tourism revenue. Average spending per foreign tourist fell from $1,185 in 2019 to $1,156 in 2025 . The next challenge is therefore not only attracting more visitors, but also increasing the value created by each visit. One area with strong potential is medical and wellness tourism . Medical tourists spend far beyond the hospital Korea welcomed 2.01 million foreign patients in 2025 , more than four times the pre-pandemic peak of 497,000 in 2019. Their spending is also significantly higher than that of general tourists. In 2024, average card spending per foreign patient reached KRW 3.99 million , about 2.5 times the KRW 1.60 million spent by general foreign tourists. What is especial...

Not all famous festivals are equally attractive. 🎆🌸 The NOL Korean Festival Index evaluates festivals across two separate dimensions: Awareness—how widely a festival is known and discussed—and Attractiveness—how positively visitors evaluate the festival experience. The Top 20 matrix shows that these two measures do not always move together. Some festivals rank high on both, while others are better known than they are positively evaluated—or show strong attractiveness despite relatively lower awareness. For example, Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival stands out for relatively high attractiveness, while Seoul Jazz Festival and Busan Fireworks Festival are positioned more strongly on awareness. The takeaway: being well known is not the same as being well liked. Understanding festival competitiveness requires looking at both Awareness and Attractiveness. 🔎 Explore the full festival rankings:  NOL Korean Festival Index 📘 Read the full report:  [Yanolja Research Insights Vol.46] N...