Seo Byung-Ro, Kim Kyoung-Lee
Korea Department of Global MICE, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea.
Asia Contents Institute, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea.
Iran J Public Health. 2021 Sep;50(9):1766-1772. doi: 10.18502/ijph.v50i9.7047.
The significant impacts of recent infectious diseases (MERS, COVID-19) demand fundamental changes and alternatives in different markets, such as tourism and the medical tourism industry. In this study, we aimed to have a historical investigation on how infectious diseases have affected the tourism industry in Korea, to reach practical implications for managing the medical tourism sector. The impact of global infectious diseases, including MERS, and COVID-19, on the tourism industry was studied in South Korea. First, the available information was collected to clarify how these two outbreaks have impacted the tourism market in South Korea, and then the government's countermeasures were studied. Investigating among the policies resulted in practical implications for the post-pandemic revitalizing plan for the medical tourism market. The infectious outbreak caused a significant decrease in the number of inbound tourists to South Korea, moreover, the crisis response system of the government has been useful so far. Hence, several practical implications can be achieved for the medical tourism market. A framework is suggested which involves 5 stages of strategies to revitalize medical tourism market. It presents remedies to revitalize the medical tourism industry and to enter the global market again. Korea's quarantine model, which succeeded in preventing COVID-19, can be a preemptive response to another pandemic in the future. The medical tourism industry policy based on Korea's quarantine model will contribute to the revitalization of the international medical tourism industry after COVID-19.
近期传染病（中东呼吸综合征、新冠肺炎）的重大影响要求不同市场（如旅游业和医疗旅游业）做出根本性变革和选择。在本研究中，我们旨在对传染病如何影响韩国旅游业进行历史调查，以得出管理医疗旅游部门的实际意义。研究了包括中东呼吸综合征和新冠肺炎在内的全球传染病对韩国旅游业的影响。首先，收集现有信息以阐明这两次疫情如何影响韩国旅游市场，然后研究政府的应对措施。对政策进行调查得出了医疗旅游市场疫情后振兴计划的实际意义。传染病爆发导致韩国入境游客数量大幅下降，此外，政府的危机应对系统到目前为止一直很有用。因此，医疗旅游市场可以实现一些实际意义。提出了一个框架，其中包括振兴医疗旅游市场的5个战略阶段。它提出了振兴医疗旅游业并再次进入全球市场的补救措施。韩国成功预防新冠肺炎的检疫模式可以成为未来对另一场大流行的先发制人反应。基于韩国检疫模式的医疗旅游产业政策将有助于新冠肺炎疫情后国际医疗旅游业的振兴。
