Korea’s medical tourism income reached a record $116 million in 2011 on the strength of the surging popularity of the country’s health care and medical services among inbound travelers, the Bank of Data showed Tuesday.

The income from the thriving medical tourism doubled in five years as more foreign travelers came here to get medical services and plastic surgery.

“Foreign tourists are flocking to the country because of its advanced medical technologies, and Chinese and Japanese customers, in particular, are on the rise,” said an official at the BOK.

The medical travel account also posted the first-ever surplus as the income outpaced local residents’ overseas spending on medical travel, which stood at $109 million last year.

In addition to the sophisticated medical services, local administrations staged aggressive campaigns to lure more overseas travelers interested in getting healthcare services in Korea. The sweeping popularity of Korean pop culture is also said to have had a positive impact on the stronger demand for Korean medical services.

The travel account data are based on the details provided by incoming travelers and credit card purchase information.

In 2006 when the government began to compile the related data, the medical travel income stopped short of $59 million. The figure then rose at a steady pace: $68 million in 2007, $70 million in 2008, $83 million in 2009 and $90 million in 2010.

The Korean Embassy in China issued a total of 1,073 visas for medical tourism purposes last year, up 386 percent from a year earlier.

According to the government data, the most favored field was plastic surgery and skin care, which accounted for a 14 percent share in the medical tourism demand.

As the demand for Korean medical services surged, provincial governments are taking steps to ride the boom by beefing up their marketing and setting up new medical support systems targeting foreign travelers.

Gangneung, Gangwon Province plans to establish a customized medical support system to attract as many as 2,000 overseas medical patients this year. Daegu held a medical tourism event last month in China to explain its services to Chinese customers. A massive medical town is set to be built up in the South Jeolla Province to attract more foreign patients.

By Yang Sung-jin (insight@heraldcorp.com)