2021 Seongnam International Medical Tourism Convention Held Online, Proposing the Direction of Medical Tourism in the COVID Era

    LOS ANGELES, CA, September 24, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The 4th International Medical Tourism Convention grand opened online on Sep. 9. Hosted by Seongnam-si (Mayor Eun Su-mi), it runs from Sep. 9 to 11.

Seongnam-si will hold the event to build a high-tech medical city brand through the official website and YouTube of Seongnam International Medical Tourism Convention, meeting with medical tourism and healthcare industry officials and overseas buyers.

Also, during the convention period, an online PR center, business conferences, conferences (academic conferences), talk concerts, and citizen health lectures will be operated under the theme of "Changes and New Challenges in the Global Healthcare Industry."

In the online PR center, visitors can see the medical service, concierge (hotel, travel, shopping) products, beauty, quarantine, pharmaceutical and bio, and medical devices from 76 companies in Seongnam region at a glance. It is also running PR and marketing campaign targeting 70 buyers from 18 countries including Russia, China, and Vietnam.

The business conference will be conducted by having export consultation in the form of Korean companies meeting overseas buyers on screen through the video conference system at the 7th floor auditorium of Kins Tower in Jeongja-dong. The city provides online counseling equipment and interpretation services so that participating companies can expand their sales channels and achieve business results.

A symposium where 21 domestic and foreign experts in each field will participate will also be held.

It is a venue to diagnose the changes in the industry's landscape brought about by COVID-19 and present future strategies for turning the crisis into new opportunities.

In the medical field, presentations titled •"The Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Tourism: Challenges and Opportunities" by Keith Pollard, Editor-in-Chief of International Medical Travel Journal •"How to Improve the Experience of Medical Tourists Visiting Korea" by Professor Jin Ki-nam of the Department of Health Administration at Yonsei University, and •"COVID-19 and the Trend in International Medical Examination" by Choi Seong-hee, Head of the International Medical Examination Center of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital will be held.

In the tourism sector, presentations titled •"Post-COVID and Evolution to Smart Tourism Metaverse," and in pharmaceutical and bio sector, presentation titled •"Global Vaccine Hub Strategy to Prepare for Post-COVID" by Seong Baek-lin, Head of Vaccine Commercialization Project will be held.

In the digital healthcare sector, presentations titled •"Current Status of Naver Digital Healthcare Business and Future Strategy" by Cha Dong-chul, Head of Naver Medical Innovation Office and •"Implementation of Digital Technology for Future Hospitals" by Jang Gwang-hee, Executive Director of GE Healthcare Korea.

In addition, there will be six public health lectures, including "Lessons to Comfort Citizens in the Era of COVID" by Kim Mi-kyung, Creative CEO of Yeonnam Town and "My Body Instruction Manual – Diseases Treatable Without Surgery" by Hong Ji-seong, Medical Specialist in Rehabilitation Medicine at Seongnam Citizens Medical Center.

Seongnam Mayor Eun Su-mi said, "Medical tourism is attracting attention as an industry that creates high added value by combining medical technology and tourism. We want to promote Seongnam as the people-oriented high-tech medical technology city to the world."

Seongnam-si promoted this event with the goal of globalizing the medical tourism and healthcare industry. In November last year, 114 consultations were conducted at the International Medical Tourism Convention and an export contract worth 4.7 billion won was achieved. It is equipped with the best medical infrastructure in the country, including 1,707 hospitals and 19,100 medical personnel. There are also 660 bio and healthcare companies gathered here.

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