Foreign visitors spent a little more than US$60 million in Korea for medical treatments during the first nine months of 2009.

The Bank of Korea says healthcare travel revenue between January and September jumped 29 percent from the same period last year while health-related travel expenditures recorded a 35 percent drop at $69 million.

Medical tourism has increased rapidly this year as the quality of medical treatment in the country improved and the Korean won weakened against other currencies in early 2009.