Cost – effectiveness and easy accessibility of paramount quality medical services paired with assistance from the tourism has kept the future of medical tourism bright.
Medical tourism can be traced back to the ancient times, when rich Europeans traveled within their continent to seek medical treatments. Research Analysts at Allied Market Research assessing the growth rate, share and size of the medical tourism market highlight that at present this trend is being popularized by the Americans and Canadian. Apart from this, the count of people from Britain travelling to different countries for cost – effective medical services have also increased over the past five to six years. Increasing cost of healthcare services has persuaded the modern customers to look out for different ways to lower the expenses and still receive the medical assistance they require.
Medical Tourism Market Helps Healthcare Services Go Global
There are many things new about this sector. The direction of flow has definitely added a new dimension to the industry. Earlier, individuals from underdeveloped nations travelled to developed countries for advanced medical assistance. But the times have changed. Today, many from rich nations are continuously searching for healthcare services in developing regions, where it’s affordable. What is more significant is the increasing prospects of many Americans travelling overseas for healthcare assistance especially to poorer nations. For several generations, the United States has been considered as the nation that offers best medical attention regardless of where in the world patients dwell. However, statistics revealed by CDC confirms that about 750, 000 Americas travel to other countries for treatments.
Popular Destination for Healthcare Treatments
The list of what we consider as the hot destination for medical tourism usually varies every year. These destinations are generally determined based on the surgeries. Although no one nation can be considered as a haven for healthcare services, countries such as Malaysia, India, Mexico, South Korea, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic and Thailand keep appearing on different lists. As per a report by Deloitte the medical tourism market was believed to have generated about $ 3.9 bn by 2014. An article published in CNBC indicated that Thailand, which is popular for its cosmetic surgery welcomed approximately 1.2 million people in 2013.
Competitive Landscape of Medical Tourism Market
Initiatives taken by different countries in medical tourism market has kept the future of the industry robust. In a recent incident, Dubai inaugurated world’s first extensive medical tourism portal called the Dubai Health Experience. The portal aims at offering complete health, travels, visa as well as hospitality services just at a click of a button. According to another news government of Maharashtra is planning on putting Maharashtra on the map for medical tourism. Explaining the reason behind this sudden move Valsa Nair Singh, the Secretary, Tourism and Cultural Affairs said “Over two lakh medical tourists come to Mumbai, but often a number of them arrive go to other states”. Valsa revealed this in an interview with journalists at Hindu.
