Pharmacies emerge as new K-beauty stops for foreign tourists

In Seoul's bustling Namdaemun Market, a group of American tourists stepped out of a pharmacy and opened their shopping bags to show their haul: a box of Bacchus energy drinks and three packages of polydeoxyribonucleotide (PDRN) skin care products.

Inside, other foreign shoppers queued at the counters with acne treatments, scar gels and cosmetics in hand. Pharmacists in white coats scanned their purchases at the registers.

Scenes like this are becoming increasingly common as Korean pharmacies emerge as a new stop on the K-beauty tourism route. Foreign visitors are seeking both over-the-counter (OTC) dermatological drugs available only at pharmacies and pharmacy-sold cosmetics promoted through social media.

“Foreign tourists now account for 40 to 50 percent of our sales,” Park Jun-sun, who runs one of the pharmacies in Namdaemun Market, told The Korea Times. “There weren’t that many when I opened two years ago, but the number suddenly started rising about a year ago.”

Even at larger pharmacies that cater mainly to Korean customers, foreign shoppers have become more visible. Staff at one store estimated that they now make up about one in 10 customers, a notable share at a pharmacy with four to six pharmacists working behind the counters.

“The number has increased recently. They mostly buy skin care products,” a pharmacist said, an observation echoed by others in the area.

New stop on K-beauty trail

According to Korea Tourism Organization data, pharmacies accounted for 13.88 percent of foreign visitors’ medical-related spending in September, totaling 31.8 billion won ($24 million). That share was up by 5.6 percentage points from December 2025, when it was around 8.3 percent.

The main reason behind the trend is the availability of products that foreign visitors cannot buy at ordinary cosmetics retailers.

Park pointed to Noscana Gel and Acnon Cream, Dong-A Pharmaceutical products used for scars and acne, respectively, as some of the most frequently requested items at his store.

Under Korea’s Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, both are classified as OTC drugs that must be sold through pharmacies. They are distinct from pharmacy-sold cosmetics such as PDRN skin care products, which are not medicines but have also become popular among foreign visitors.

Social media has helped drive interest in both categories. Foreign tourists increasingly arrive with lists of products they have seen recommended on Instagram and other platforms, often seeking treatments and cosmetics that are less familiar or less accessible in their home countries.

Other pharmacists have noticed the trend as well.

“Customers come in asking for products they saw on Instagram,” said a pharmacist who runs a store in the market. “We Koreans also visit local pharmacies when traveling abroad, especially in countries like France. I see this as a similar trend.”

For pharmacies, growing interest in pharmacy-exclusive products offers a business opportunity by also stocking cosmetics that are not classified as medicines.

“Pharmacies are already operating on very thin margins, with fierce competition driving drug prices as low as they can go. Neighborhood pharmacies are closing down,” Park said. “But beauty products targeting foreign tourists give us more flexibility in pricing.”

Without tourists from places such as Singapore, Taiwan and Mexico, he said, business would probably “fare a lot worse.”

Pharmacies gain ground in beauty retail

A short walk away in Myeong-dong, the trend has gone a step further.

Some pharmacies no longer simply serve foreign tourists who happen to stop by, and increasingly position themselves as beauty-shopping destinations in their own right, competing for the same customers who flock to cosmetics stores in the neighborhood.

In one of Korea’s best-known K-beauty hubs, where Olive Young’s bright green shopping bags are seen everywhere, pharmacy signs bearing white crosses now stand out among the beauty retailers.

Inside, some pharmacies operate much like conventional cosmetics stores. Staff greet customers at the entrance and guide them to shelves stocked with popular products, while pharmacists in white coats move through the aisles offering advice.

“We came to a pharmacy because we think it is more reliable than Olive Young,” said a German couple who bought a skin-firming cream. “In Germany, pharmacies and cosmetics stores are separate. We thought pharmacists would know what they were doing.”

Some pharmacies have already built reputations overseas. A Taiwanese visitor shopping at a Myeong-dong pharmacy said it had been widely recommended back home.

“Lists of must-buy items are shared on Instagram,” the tourist said. “Personally, I believe the ingredients in products sold at pharmacies are better than those in products sold at beauty retailers.”

That perception of greater expertise and reliability is becoming part of pharmacies’ appeal to foreign beauty shoppers, helping make them a new stop on the K-beauty trail.