Shares of Global Tax Free, a KOSDAQ-listed company, were strong early on the 11th. The move is seen as the stock drawing attention as a beneficiary after President Lee Jae-myung mentioned "plastic surgery tourism" as a way to boost the tourism industry.
As of 9:55 a.m. that day, Global Tax Free was trading at 5,750 won, up 590 won (11.43%) from the previous session.
President Lee Jae-myung, at a recent Cabinet meeting, told Minister Choi Hui-young of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, "Foreign plastic surgery tourists stay for two weeks to a month," and noted the importance of plastic surgery tourism by saying, "K-beauty, K-food, K-culture—especially within K-culture, the focus is on film, but aren't food and plastic surgery much higher value-added?"
The remarks have lent momentum to some calls to extend the value-added taxes refund program for foreign patients, and buying appears to have flocked to Global Tax Free, Asia's first tax refund agency.
The special value-added tax refund for cosmetic plastic surgery medical services for foreign tourists, introduced in April 2016 to promote medical tourism, ends at the end of this year. However, the industry expressed concern that once the special measure expires, medical tourism could lose competitiveness and patients could leave.