Category Archives: Medical Tourism/Health Tourism

Medical tourism: Remove red tape and provide bold support measures

Posted on April 19, 2013 | Comments Off on Medical tourism: Remove red tape and provide bold support measures

The “creative economy’’ initiative presented by President Park Geun-hye as one of her election pledges is apparently aimed at making a breakthrough in the nation’s increasingly fixed trend of low economic growth. Given the visible limitations in the manufacturing sector amid ever intensifying global competition, the first female leader won’t deny the need to groom new growth engines in service industries, especially the medical sector in which many talented Koreans are employed.

In this regard, we welcome the news that the number of foreign medical tourists visiting here is rising at a steady pace and Korean medical systems will be exported to Saudi Arabia under the so-called “Twinning Project.’’

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of foreign health tourists to Korea surpassed 150,000 last year, up 27.3 percent from a year earlier. The ministry expects the figure to reach 200,000 this year and 1 million in 2020. Last year’s revenues from medical tourism amounted to about 240 billion won ($212.4 million), a whopping 32 percent rise from 2011, with the nation’s health-related surplus estimated at $34.6 million.

Most notable is that Chinese medical travelers surged 63.7 percent to 31,472, outstripping Americans for the first time. While Japanese patients declined due largely to the yen’s devaluation, those from the Middle East continued to rise.

The landmark deal with Saudi Arabia on medical cooperation also carries significance in that the health care sector could be a new locomotive to spur the country’s growth momentum, as the construction industry did in the 1970s and 1980s. Under the agreement, Korea will export its medical knowhow and systems to the oil-rich Middle East country and the project will serve as a good occasion for our medical industry to raise its profile globally.

Medical tourism is a value-added service industry that can provide an answer to the ”jobless growth’’ that has been the painful norm since the currency crisis in the late 1990s. Given that the medical sector generally creates three times more jobs than manufacturing, Thailand sets a good example for Korea as it attracts more than 1.5 million medical tourists a year. India and Singapore also hosted 730,000 and 720,000 foreign patients last year.

Our reality is far from satisfactory, though. There has been much talk about the need to develop medical services as a next growth engine along with education, tourism and other key service industries, but little has been done, choked by administrative red tape and tough opposition arising from the possible weakening of public health care services.

The time is long overdue for Korea to act on this issue, given the desperate need to create more jobs. The “hallyu’’ or Korean wave in medical services can be realized through a two-track initiative by wooing foreign patients actively and encouraging hospitals and medical staff to go abroad. To that end, the government needs to have a forward-looking attitude toward for-profit hospitals, putting an end to the controversy that has been persistent over the past decade.

The point is to globalize our health care industry by removing outdated regulations and providing bold support measures.

source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr / The Korea Times / Home> Opinion> Editorial / April 14th, 2013

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Posted in Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Reports,Features, Statistics

Bring us your sick, your infirm

Posted on April 18, 2013 | Comments Off on Bring us your sick, your infirm

HealthCT18apr2013

Wives of foreign visitors gather to learn some basics of traditional Chinese medicine in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. Photo: CFP

At the Boao Forum for Asia earlier this month, Hainan Province published a plan to build a special zone for medical tourism, the first in the country. In one fell swoop, China’s tropical island province is attempting to attract overseas medical institutions as well as patients.

At about the same time, it was reported that in 2012, China topped the US to become the first source of medical tourists going to South Korea, accounting for 63 percent of all medical tourists in the country.

But while neighboring countries like India, Thailand and South Korea have long had a head start in the global medical tourism market attracting many Chinese to their shores, China’s medical tourism industry at home is in its infancy. Government support, strategy and infrastructure building will all be necessary if China wants to compete in this ever-growing market.

Liu Tingfang, a professor at the Institute for Hospital Management of Tsinghua University, has been pushing to develop medical tourism for over a decade. Back in 1996, while running a hospital in Hainan, Liu brought up the idea as a way to revive the hospital, which was going through a rough patch. But the hospital didn’t have enough resources to develop this new commercial arm.

After years of lobbying by Liu and other like-minded people, the provincial government began including medical tourism into its five-year plans in the late 1990s, but nothing has materialized.

It was not until China announced plans to develop Hainan as an International Tourism Island in 2010 that the idea of medical tourism finally got some real attention. The Boao Forum for Asia 2013 featured a Health and Tourism Roundtable oriented around the potential for medical tourism and the International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone in Hainan Province.

Many medical professionals believe that China can be competitive globally, given its advantageous healthcare prices. Heart surgeries cost around one tenth of US prices while hip or knee replacements in Shanghai are more than 70 percent cheaper than in the US.

source: http://www.globaltimes.cn / Global Times / Home> / by Xuyang Jingjing / April 18th, 2013

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Posted in Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Travelling For Surgery Abroad / Medical Surgery Overseas

Tourism in Argentina facing a bright future

Posted on April 16, 2013 | Comments Off on Tourism in Argentina facing a bright future

Argentina is the land of wine, tango and of course, football. No wonder tourism is on the upswing here. There are many reasons for this.

The economy of Argentina has recovered as is quite evident in its increase of spending power. According to a Timetric report, tourism volumes will be growing at a CAGR of nearly 4.19% over 4 years beginning from 2013. All this is the result of government efforts and the rich cultural heritage of this country. Coupled with this is the medical tourism that has put Argentina in the tourism spotlight.

Domestic tourism has increased by 8.3% in 2012 over 2011. This has been facilitated by extensive and low cost transport along with massive governmental efforts of promoting the coastal cities of the country by comparing them with similar options elsewhere.

In 2013, the inbound tourism is expected to be still higher than 2012 figures. This is mainly due to influx of tourists from South and Central America, Chile, Brazil and from the European countries. An added attraction is the legalizing of same sex marriages that has given a boost to the number of couples visiting Argentina by providing a completely new customer base.

Various events in sports, politics as well as culture are being organized in Argentina in order to attract leisure as well as business tourists. Thus Brazil hosting the Football World Cup in 2014 as well as Olympics in 2016 will be having an impact on Argentine tourism too.

Medical tourism is also becoming increasingly popular and is expecting to grow. The key factor behind this is the strong medical infrastructure of the country ensuring the availability of affordable yet efficient medical services. In addition is the wide range of available treatments, good quality and affordable lodging for family members. Next are the spas, resorts as well as natural springs to aid in pleasant recovery.

source: http://www.tourism-review.com / Global edition / Home> .TR News / April 15th, 2013

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Posted in Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Others, Uncategorized

Inbound tourism should focus on leisure travel: FICCI Survey

Posted on April 14, 2013 | Comments Off on Inbound tourism should focus on leisure travel: FICCI Survey

India’s inbound tourism strategy needs to be tailored to the leisure segment, business travel, medical and adventure tourism and domestic tourism should be targeted at the middle age segment (35-50 years) tocash in on the rising disposal incomes and increased propensity to travel, a quick survey by FICCI reveals.

The survey findings released to the media today by Jyotsna Suri, vice president and chairperson of FICCI’s tourism committee, show that a bulk of the respondents 37% saw the potential growth in inbound tourism in the leisure segment. Business travel and medical tourism came second with adventure tourism, the third.

The respondents are of the view that India’s tourism should target the middle age segment 35-50 to accelerate its growth. The strategy, hence, should be to capitalize on the growing disposable incomes on travel and entertainment.

The survey received 480 written and telephonic responses from tourism industry professionals in hotels of all categories, tour operators, travel agents, airlines, investors and tourism associations.

Suri said 55% of the respondents felt that there will be a moderate impact of the slowdown on tourism over the next six months on tourism, 45% opined that there would be no impact.

She said to discuss some of the findings of the survey and for targeting potential consumers of tourism products from across the globe and India, FICCI along with the department of tourism, government of Rajasthan and ministry of tourism, government of India is organizing the sixth ‘Great Indian Travel Bazaar 2013’ (GITB) from  April 14- 16 in Jaipur, Rajasthan. GITB is a landmark event and the largest international tourism mart of the country which is widely attended by the industry from India and abroad.

The FICCI survey reveals that the industry feels let down by the Union Budget 2013-14 proposals as these have had no impact on tourism. In fact, around 45% said the budget impacted the industry negatively due to major unmet and long standing demands such as declaration of tourism as an industry, export industry status and inclusion of hotels as infrastructure.

The silver lining is that 46% of the respondents were confident of the foreign tourist arrivals to go up in the coming 6 months. Their optimism stems from the fact that foreign tourist arrivals to India have grown by 2.1% in Jan and Feb 2013 and in during these 2 months, the foreign exchange earnings from tourism rose by 19.8% in rupee terms and by 11.4% in dollar terms.

It was remarkable and extremely encouraging to note that 83% of the respondents were of the view that the current environment of safety andsecurity for the foreign travellers in India was totally safe. A small minority was skeptical on this point.

As regards the air fare structure, a majority (75%) of the respondents felt that the air fares for foreign tourist movement in the country were expensive as compared to India’s competing destinations. Said Suri, this must be noted as cheap air connectivity is imperative for augmenting foreign tourist arrival.

It was positive to note that majority of the respondents 66% found the hotel tariff to be expensive but not burdensome.

A food for thought for the tourism industry as majority 56% of the respondents found the state of air connectivity to tourist destinations as satisfactory but could be better.

As for hygiene and sanitation, both have been rated (by 91% of the respondents) as very important for choosing India as a destination. Asked which countries can India partner with for joint tourism programmes, the respondents listed the following in order of priority:

1. China
2. Sri Lanka
3. Nepal
4. Germany
5. Australia
6. Japan and Thailand
7. The UK

The respondents listed out what is required for the growth of Inbound Tourism in India that is not being provided today by the stakeholders in tourism. These are:

> Neat and clean hotels in remote places
> Budget hotels
> Last mile road connectivity catering to smooth and seamless travel
> Security and safety for tourists
> Visa on arrival for at least all western countries
> Better infrastructure in tier II cities
> Knowledgeable guides
> Greater awareness on accessibility
> To look at new markets
> More thrust on promotion of India in mainland China and Latin American countries
> Promoting destinations collectively
> Recognizing tourism as an Industry and grant it export industry status.

Suri said that the government of India needs to work towards meeting the critical demands of the tourism industry that contributes an estimated Rs 944.87 billion towards foreign exchange, around 6.4% to the GDP and 7.8% towards total employment.

source:  http://www.myiris.com / Home> News / source: IRIS (09-Apr-13)

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Posted in Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Reports,Features, Statistics

Gallery

Showcasing TN as health tourism destination

Posted on April 13, 2013

Chennai – TamilNadu, India : Availability of quality and affordable healthcare services has put Tamil Nadu in third spot in drawing overseas patients to the country, next to Delhi and Mumbai. The State’s potential as health tourism destination will be … Continue reading →

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