South Korea launched the 10 per cent value-added tax (VAT) refund scheme in 2016 for visitors going under the knife for procedures such as facelifts, skin revitalisation, breast augmentation and double-eyelid surgery to boost the appeal of its aesthetic medicine trade.
But the government announced earlier this month that the perk will end on December 31, a decision decried by the Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons.
The group said ending the programme would raise clients’ costs and undermine pricing transparency, a feature that had helped draw thousands of foreign patients to the country’s beauty clinics.
“The tax refund system, created to attract foreign patients, has served as a significant incentive for those sensitive to price,” an official at the organisation told the Korea Herald.
“Ending it removes a key factor behind Korea’s influx of foreign patients. As other countries offer aggressive incentives, more people could shift to competing medical tourism destinations.”
