Incheon City announced on the 27th that it has been selected for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's 'Wellness and Medical Tourism Convergence Cluster' project and will receive a total of 1.5 billion KRW in national funding over three years.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had previously held separate competitions for wellness tourism clusters and medical tourism clusters, but starting this year, to respond to the growing medical and wellness tourism market after COVID-19, the two were integrated into a wellness and medical tourism convergence cluster for selection.
Incheon City and the Incheon Tourism Organization proposed a plan under the theme "Incheon Sasaek (四色) - Sasaek (思索) Pause, Incheon," selecting four wellness and medical zones and aiming to create a wellness medical tourism cluster through the development of specialized products tailored to each zone's concept and the establishment of a convergence infrastructure, receiving high scores for their proposal.
The city plans to divide Incheon into four zones, discover representative projects suited to each area's characteristics, and strengthen targeted marketing. The downtown area will focus on medical and beauty, Songdo area on MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions), Yeongjong area on leisure and luxury, and Ganghwa-Ongjin area on forest and natural healing.
Incheon City aims to attract 13,000 medical tourists this year, reflecting the trend in medical tourism shifting from treatment to prevention. [Photo by Incheon City]
The city will also focus on building a convergence infrastructure for wellness and medical tourism.
Based on local industries such as bio, healthcare, beauty, and aesthetics, the city plans to promote various collaborative projects including networks of wellness and medical tourism-related institutions and conduct professional workforce training programs.
Additionally, emphasis will be placed on developing an integrated brand for wellness and medical tourism, hosting new festivals, and promoting marketing through overseas bases for Incheon medical tourism as well as online and offline media.
Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok stated, "Incheon has geographical advantages with its international airport and port, excellent medical tourism resources, and a variety of wellness programs. We will do our best to promote Incheon as an attractive city where overseas tourists can experience a one-stop service from arrival, treatment, wellness tourism, to aftercare."
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