Upon the revision of the new regulation in South Korea to allow hospitals to directly seek foreign patients in May 2009, the country witnessed the number of foreigners who visited South Korea for medical treatment increase by around 40% to 1,061, compared to the previous year.

South Korea plans to tap on its potential as a medical tourism destination by marketing its accessibility and low cost and expects the number of foreign patients to increase by fourfold to 200,000 by 2013.

However, the nation is anticipated to face competition from established medical tourism destinations such as Thailand and Singapore, as well as players such as India, Malaysia and the Philippines.

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