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Bangkok , Thailand : At the Asian Hospital Management Conference recently in Bangkok, four Thai hospitals collected awards. The awards program recognizes those hospitals in Asia that have put into practice new services or improved their existing services during the … Continue reading
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority has stepped up efforts to market the country’s tourism by spreading its focus towards promoting health tourism. The authority has invited a South African qualified aromatherapist, reflexologist and sports massage therapist, Ms Thandeka Balani, who will be exhibiting her skills at this year’s edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani Expo which begins tomorrow.
Speaking to Herald Business yesterday, ZTA head of corporate affairs Mr Sugar Chagonda said by inviting Ms Balani, his organisation believes that for tourism to grow the country obviously needs healthy people as well.
“When talking of Zimbabwe as a world of wonders, our first wonder is our people and culture hence the need to ensure that they are healthy in order to meaningfully promote the other facets of our tourism.
“Thandeka’s coming on board for this year’s expo is therefore a positive first step towards promoting health tourism and as such we would also want to encourage health experts from beyond our borders to come to Zimbabwe during such events like Sanganai/Hlanganani to promote their expertise while also benefiting locals,” he said.
Ms Balani expressed confidence that her expertise will go a long way towards growing her business beyond South Africa while she also said she wants to make a difference towards promoting the well-being of Zimbabweans.
“I am optimistic that during the Sanganai/Hlanganani Expo I am going to showcase my abilities in a manner that will promote my business, while also exchanging ideas with locals so that when I go back home I would be in a better position to tell the Zimbabwean story as it is,” she said.
Ms Balani added that her passion was to see that the Zimbabwean people can fully benefit from her exploits and also expressed interest in opening a massage parlour in the country describing the atmosphere as tranquil.
She is also a qualified Bowen technician (a special technique for chronic injuries that helps to restore shifted muscles and align bones in their correct positions), and is the first and only black woman technician in East London, South Africa.
ZTA’s bid to market and promote health tourism comes after the successful launch of township tourism at the end of last year in the high-density suburb of Highfield in Harare given its history in terms of the revolutionary struggle.
source: http://www.allafrica.com / allAfrica.com / Home> Southern Africa> Travel> Zimbabwe / The Herald / October 09th, 2013
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Posted in Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Reports,Features, Statistics
The hospital sector is capable of yielding four times of the revenue generated by the hotel industry for the same amount of investment, a leading hospital management expert told the Hotel Show Dubai 2013 at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Sunday.
The cost of putting up a hospital bed is almost the same as the cost of creating a room in a five-star hotel, but there is a huge difference in the revenue potential of the two, he pointed out.
The potential for investments in hospitals was highlighted by Raza Siddiqui, CEO of Arabian Healthcare Group, while making a presentation on the medical tourism potential of Dubai and the UAE. Dubai, in particular, offers great scope for investments in high-quality medical infrastructure, he pointed out.
According to Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) estimates, 10 million tourists visiting the UAE, spending an average 3.8 days in 80,000 hotel rooms, generate Dh20 billion-revenue. This makes an average of Dh 250,000 per bed for a regular hotel and Dh500,000 for a five-star hotel annually. The total investment required for creating a room in a five-star property is estimated at Dh 2 million, which is roughly the project cost required for putting up a hospital bed in a premium hospital.
“While the average revenue per bed in a five-star hotel is Dh500,000, the average revenue per bed in a premium hospital is Dh2 million per year. That is the kind of difference in revenue yields, although the cost of creating the two facilities is the same,” Siddiqui pointed out.
Given Dubai’s superior hospitality sector and its excellent healthcare infrastructure, the Emirate is in a strong position to develop medical tourism as a major component of its tourism industry. There is a need and the opportunity for investing in 5,000 new hospital beds, Siddiqui said.
According to him, out of the 40 million transit passengers at the Dubai airport, on an average 1,500 to 2,000 patients daily change flights to travel to medical tourism destinations daily. With Dubai’s excellent hospitality and healthcare infrastructure, it should be possible to attract some of them to seek treatment here.
“Medical tourism can complement the thriving tourism industry in the region. If the Emirate targets even 500,000 medical tourists per year, the revenue contribution can be in the region of Dh10 billion, which is 50 per cent of the earnings by the tourism industry,” Siddiqui said.
“Dubai can hope to position itself alongside Singapore and Thailand, both of which offer quality healthcare and good hospitality infrastructure. India has good healthcare, but it is not so good in terms of hospitality. Dubai has very good hospitality and good healthcare,” he said.
India is among the countries that receive one million or more medical tourists in a year, the others being Thailand, Mexico, US and Singapore.
India is expected to receive one million medical tourists this year with an annual spend of $5 billion, making an average of $5,000 per patient. According to McKenzie projections for 2013, the regional market for medical tourism is worth $20 billion out of a total industry size of $100 billion.
The global medical tourism market is estimated to grow with a compounded annual growth rate of 9.5 per cent from 2012 to 2018. Over 50 countries have identified medical tourism as a national industry. ___
Visit the Khaleej Times (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) at www.khaleejtimes.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
source: http://www.medcitynews.com / MedCity News / Home> Hot Topics: Health Data / October 07th, 2013
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Posted in Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Reports,Features, Statistics
The growing dearth of specialist medical care services in the country and a corresponding growing middle class have resulted to more Nigerians seeking treatment abroad, with India and Turkey being major destinations.
The shift in destination from countries like the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States to India and Turkey is mainly being driven by cost considerations and comparable quality of service.
BusinessDay learnt that a heart bypass treatment in Turkey goes for between $11,000 and $15,000, as against $129,750 in the US. In India, similar surgery goes for $8,666, which is far less than the $27,770 a patient will pay in the UK.
In the US, hip replacement costs over $45,000, while in Turkey it is just $10,750, India $7,000, and Ireland $19,500-$21,000. For knee replacement, it costs $40,000 in the US, $11,200 in Turkey, $7,833 in India, $11,781 in Germany, and $20,600 in the UK.
According to Osahon Enabulele, president, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), annual spend on medical tourism by Nigerians is now well above N120 billion, with an estimated 5,000 patients travelling to destinations like India and Turkey on a monthly basis, a development he describes as a huge foreign exchange drain to the nation.
Adedayo Sobamowo, managing consultant, Hermes Consulting, told BusinessDay that in terms of pricing, the US is the most expensive medical tourism destination due primarily to the high cost of healthcare in the country.
“We currently send patients from Nigeria to the US, UK, Jordan, Turkey and India,” he said. “Medical professionals in the US, including doctors, nurses and allied medical personnel, earn significantly higher salaries when compared to their counterparts in Europe and Asia. Hospitals in the UK charge between 60 percent and 70 percent of what US hospitals charge, also due to their advanced health systems and high labour costs. Turkish and Jordanian hospitals, on the other hand, charge between 40 percent and 50 percent of US pricing as a result of lower labour and operating costs.”
Sobamowo said, however, that India is the market leader in outbound medical tourism from Nigeria as it offers the lowest pricing for medical services, typically between 10 percent and 30 percent of US prices. “Most Indian tariffs are also cheaper than those offered here in Nigeria. Indian hospitals are able to offer cheaper prices than available in Nigeria due to economies of scale from high patient volumes, low operating costs as well as labour.”
Other stakeholders and practitioners attribute the trend to dearth of manpower and lack of adequate infrastructure, which led to many capable hands leaving the country to seek greener pastures abroad.
“The prices of medical tourism, health and wellness services are directly proportional to the availability of resources, infrastructure, skilled workforce, and so on,” Omar Siddiqui, managing director, Medicure Medical Travels, New Delhi, India, told BusinessDay in an exclusive chat.
India, he said, has highly skilled workforce, world-class local manufactured drugs, implants, consumables, and medical equipment as well as accredited hospitals with world-class infrastructure and research facilities. “This directly impacts the pricing of medical services as well. Now, the same services too are available in other countries but with higher prices. Besides this, the environment for business is very conducive and private participation with foreign collaboration is actively encouraged,” he added.
Nigeria, according to Omar, is the second-biggest economy in Africa, after South Africa, and has immense potential to emerge as medical tourism hub, but there is need for active participation by the government, and policy formulation that takes place should be implemented as well. “Besides this, Nigerian Diaspora can be asked to contribute towards its success. We live in a globalised world where a lot can be achieved by working together, sharing our ideas to improve the lives of people around us,” he said.
Mohamed Ali Degirmenci, supervisor of international operations, ROMOY International Health, Tourism and Consulting, told BusinessDay that they were very particular about giving adequate healthcare services because “life is very important and must not be toyed with”.
“We guarantee the lowest price for similar surgical operations and treatment in Turkey, and the prices we offer to patients are lower than the prices offered by the hospital itself. We ensure that the patient gets the same services at better prices and provide the treatment alternatives with more affordable prices than European countries, especially England and France, without long waiting periods. These and many more are reasons different people from all over the world visit Turkey for medical tourism,” he said.
ROMOY International Health Tourism and Consulting is a model health tourism assistant company approved by the Ministry of Health which has professional and highly experienced team and infrastructure. There are more than 60 specially selected wide hospital networks under the roof of ROMOY.
By: KEMI AJUMOBI
source: http://www.businessdayonline.com / Business Day / Home> Main Story / by Kemi Ajumobi / October 11th, 2013
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Posted in Health /Medical Treatment For Overseas Treatment, Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Travelling For Surgery Abroad / Medical Surgery Overseas
The study also noted over one-half of growth in wellness tourism through 2017 will come from the Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern/North African markets, and India will be number one globally over the next five years, clocking a 20 percent-plus growth through 2017. And wellness tourists are higher spenders, on average, spending 130 percent more than the average global tourist.
The study was conducted by SRI International, in conjunction with the Global Spa & Wellness Summit (GSWS), the industry’s leading education and research organization, which presented the GWTC in New Delhi, India. The study is the first to benchmark and analyze this fast-emerging tourism segment and, according to SRI, is expected to be eye-opening for governments and tourism industry stakeholders worldwide.
“For decades, the very concept of a vacation has been associated with excess: too much eating, drinking and too little sleep — leaving too many travelers less healthy when they check out than when they checked in,” said Ophelia Yeung, lead author of the study and co-director, Center for Science, Technology & Economic Development at SRI. “This new research clearly reveals that more people are now choosing destinations that help them keep or get healthy while traveling, while a smaller (and also growing) segment are also now taking trips with the specific, sole purpose of improving their personal well-being.”
Definition & Methodology: SRI defines wellness tourism as all travel associated with the pursuit of maintaining or enhancing one’s personal well-being. The wellness tourism economy includes all expenditures made by tourists on these types of leisure and business trips, including lodging, food and beverage, activities/excursions, shopping and transport.
KEY FINDINGS
Percentage of Global Trips: While wellness tourism represents roughly one in seven total domestic and international tourism dollars (14 percent), it represents 6 percent of the number of international and domestic trips — or 524.4 million.
Powerful Impact on Jobs and Economies: Wellness tourism is directly responsible for $11.7 million global jobs, which delivers $1.3 trillion in global economic impact — or 1.8 percent of the world’s GDP in 2012.
A Strikingly High-Yield Tourist: Wellness tourists spend, on average, 130 percent more than the average global tourist. An international wellness tourist spends roughly 65 percent more per trip than the average international tourist; the domestic wellness tourist spends about 150 percent more than the average domestic tourist.
“Primary” vs. “Secondary” Wellness Tourist Markets: SRI made a distinction between “primary” and “secondary” wellness tourists: the former defined as those taking a trip entirely for wellness purposes, the latter engaging in wellness-related activities as part of a trip. Not surprisingly, secondary-purpose wellness tourists constitute the significant majority (87 percent) of total wellness tourism trips and expenditures (86 percent). And while wellness tourists spend dramatically more than the average international or domestic tourist across the board, a secondary-purpose wellness traveler spends less than a primary.
Domestic Wellness Tourism Dominates: While tourism authorities tend to place an outsized focus on inbound, international travelers, domestic wellness tourism is actually significantly larger than its international equivalent — representing 84 percent of wellness tourism trips and 68 percent (or $299 billion) of expenditures. International inbound wellness tourism represents a $139 billion market (32 percent of total).
Europe and North America Dominate…For Now: While over 50 percent of the projected growth in wellness tourism through 2017 will come from Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East/North Africa, the SRI study found that today’s typical wellness traveler is well-educated, well-off, middle-aged and hails from Western and industrialized nations. Europe and North America drive the outbound international wellness tourism segment, with five countries — the U.S., Germany, Japan, France and Austria — currently representing 63 percent of the global market. Additionally, the U.S., France, Austria, Germany and Switzerland drive the most inbound, international wellness tourism arrivals. Countries that attract the most domestic wellness tourism trips include: the U.S., Germany, Japan, China and France.
Spa Tourism Critical, but Not Majority of Market: Spa tourism is a core component of wellness tourism (41 percent of market), but non spa-related wellness tourism (whether “healthy hotels” and cruises; baths/springs; fitness, yoga or lifestyle retreats; travel to nature parks/preserves; organic/natural restaurant expenditures; and other “healthy” lodging and retail) represent 59 percent of the market.
“Wellness tourism is poised to reshape tourism as we know it. So many 21st century forces are fueling it, including the rise of chronic diseases and the unprecedented stress of modern life,” noted Jean-Claude Baumgarten, GSWS keynote speaker and former president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council. “What people want to achieve during their ever diminished time off is undergoing a sea change, with millions more every year demanding destinations that deliver physical, emotional, spiritual and environmental health — along with enjoyment.”
SRI’s complete The Global Wellness Tourism Economy report, which includes data on regional/national wellness tourism markets and future category growth, will be released at a media event in New York City on November 7, 2013.
About the Summit: The Global Wellness Tourism Congress is presented by the Global Spa & Wellness Summit (GSWS), an international organization representing senior executives and leaders from over 40 countries, joined by a common interest to drive economic development and understanding of the spa and wellness industries. Delegates from diverse sectors, including hospitality, tourism, health and wellness, beauty, finance, medical, real estate, manufacturing and technology, attend the organization’s annual Summit, which is held in a different host country each year. After just seven years, the GSWS is now considered the leading global research and educational resource for the $1.9 trillion spa and wellness industry.
1 Euromonitor data, 2012
Media Contacts:
Betsy Isroelit Global Spa & Wellness Summit 213-300-0108 betsy@gsws.org
Jessica Chen CooperKatz for Global Spa & Wellness Summit 917-595-3055 jchen@cooperkatz.com
SOURCE Global Spa & Wellness Summit
source: http://www.sacbee.com / The Sacramento Bee / Home> News / by Global Spa & Wellness Summit / by PR Newswire / Wednesday – October 09th, 2013
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Posted in Reports,Features, Statistics, Wellness Tourism
