Travel Platform With 1.6 Million Foreign Users Bets Big on K-Healthcare

Last year, 18.94 million foreigners visited South Korea. This year, inbound tourist arrivals are projected to reach 20 million to 22 million—a record high.

As foreign visitors surge, mobile services targeting international tourists are proliferating. Most focus on reservations and payments for transportation, accommodation, and restaurants. Among them, Creatrip is positioning itself as a key wellness tourism platform by offering differentiated services centered on "wellness."

According to startup industry sources on May 11, Creatrip has decided to focus on expanding medical-related services this year, anticipating strong demand for wellness tourism among foreign visitors.

"Foreigners have high trust in Korea's advanced medical technology and premium services," said Creatrip CEO Lim Hye-min. "This year, K-healthcare products such as traditional Korean medicine treatments and specialized health checkup packages will become major purposes for visiting Korea."

Creatrip is a startup that provides travel information and real-time booking services to foreign tourists visiting Korea. Launched in 2016, it connects foreigners with various experiences including makeup and K-pop. As of December last year, the platform had 1.6 million monthly active users.

Medical services are Creatrip's focus this year, following visible growth in the sector last year. Transaction volume in beauty and medical services on the platform rose 71% year-over-year. IV therapy and health checkup transactions surged 281% in the second half compared to the first half of last year. During the same period, transactions at traditional Korean medicine clinics jumped 89-fold.

Reviews from foreign tourists who used these services have been positive. Canadian tourist Jarret Capo said, "It's hard to book directly through hospital websites, but it was easy to find various options here. I'll use the service again when I come back to Korea."

A user who identified as Japanese wrote: "I was tired, so I visited a clinic for IV therapy and my body recovered efficiently. I plan to visit again."

This is why Creatrip has mapped out a strategy to expand partnerships with hospitals and traditional Korean medicine clinics offering health checkups and IV therapy, while actively promoting medical services to foreign customers. Currently, Creatrip operates medical services across six categories including dentistry, ophthalmology, dermatology, and traditional Korean medicine.

By nationality, trust in Korean medical services is particularly high in Asian markets such as Taiwan, where demand for wellness products is expected to grow further. About half of Taiwanese users' transactions on Creatrip last year came from medical tourism, with strong preference for ophthalmology and vision correction services. Users from the United States and Singapore spent approximately 25% of their country-specific transaction volume on medical tourism.

"We see wellness tourism becoming a core growth driver for Korea's inbound tourism market," Lim said. "We aim to establish ourselves as the leading K-wellness platform connecting Korea's high-quality medical services with lifestyle experiences."