SEOUL, Aug. 18 (UPI) — Tourists looking for a little nip and tuck while earning a tax refund may have a new must-visit destination on the horizon: South Korea.
Seoul’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in early August the country is to exempt foreign cosmetic surgery recipients from the value-added tax that comes with paying for treatments such as breast augmentation, wrinkle removal, rhinoplasty and liposuction, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported.
The tourist-friendly policy is to go into effect in April 2016 and is a response to the lag in tourism to the country after the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome,Bloomberg reported.
MERS was responsible for a 40 percent decline in tourists visiting South Korea in June. Travelers from Taiwan and Hong Kong fell by 76 and 75 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2014, but the new tax policy is expected to increase the number of Asian visitors.
“The tax change should lift the number of Chinese visitors next year, although Korea should really make this permanent to give it a real boost,” said Kim Soo-woong, a director at the Korea Health Industry Development Institute.
The Chosun Ilbo reported the tax break is to last until March 2017 and follows the exponential increase in the number of plastic surgery patients flying into South Korea for a quick cosmetic procedure.
An official at the ministry said foreign plastic surgery recipients more than doubled between 2011 and 2014, from 122,000 to 267,000, but the market has become increasingly unregulated and some unsuspecting tourists have been scammed or taken to unlicensed operators.
Seoul also launched the new tax policy to improve the refund procedure for tourists who are not always well informed on the steps they need to take to receive a tax return.
Seoul is aiming to raise income from medical tourism by 2020 to about $3 billion.
