Health Tourism – New Beneficial Trend of Tourism

By: Josh Goldstein


Health tourism is a new subsection of tourism, where people visit places other than their home country for better and cheaper medical treatments. People are now realizing the benefits of Health tourism. Developing countries are becoming centre of attraction for health tourists. That is the reason behind Medico tourism being more popular. We can see the growth of Health tourism, which is “The provision of cost-effective personal medical care in association with the tourism industry”.

Health tourism is a big business these days. The World Medical Tourism market is estimated at over £10 billion and its growth rate is approximately over 35 per cent yearly. Most of the health tourists come from developed countries like U.S., U.K., France, Canada, and other European or developed American countries, where medical facility is very costly in comparison with popular Health tourism destinations. Currently popular health tourism destinations are Costa Rica, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Mexico, Panama and Turkey.

There are two categories of health tourism:

1. Medical Tourism - Medical tourism includes minor surgery and regular health checkups like dental care, eye surgery, and minor cosmetic check-ups. It’s the destination that is the first choice and while there on holiday tourists prefer to receive such minor treatments. Medical tourism is a niche market and health and wellness holidays are steadily growing into a high value business, with the average cost of a trip well in excess of the holiday market norms. This market is fueled by those looking to break out the pressures of long working hours and what some operators see as an urge to retreat from the debilitating effects of the consumer society.

2. Medical Travel - Medical travel it is for the complete available treatment of major health issues, such as a hip replacement, kidney transplant or open heart surgery, which is the deciding factor. This is what they call elective surgery and it is the quality of care that counts. The excellent medical facility, expert and experienced surgeons, along with state of the art modern medical facilities with latest technology instruments, that too at very cheaper costs, if compared to the treatment charges in U.S. or U.K.

The cost of surgery in India, Thailand or South Africa can be one-tenth of what it is in the United States or Western Europe, and sometimes even less. A heart-valve replacement that would cost $200,000 or more in the U.S., for example, goes for $10,000 in India--and that includes round-trip airfare and a brief vacation package. Similarly, a metal-free dental bridge worth $5,500 in the U.S. costs $500 in India, a knee replacement in Thailand with six days of physical therapy costs about one-fifth of what it would in the States, and Lasik eye surgery worth $3,700 in the U.S. is available in many other countries for only $730. Cosmetic surgery savings are even greater: A full facelift that would cost $20,000 in the U.S. runs about $1,250 in South Africa.

Destination countries are providing proper facilities to guest health tourists. Easy Visa approval, no long waiting list at hospitals, no nightmares of the hospital bill, caring, well trained and expert hospital staff, and abundance of tourist places to heal after treatment effects. The popularity of health tourism will even increase in future.

Pro Travel Network is a group of home based travel agents. It also provides opportunities to be a part of this growing community. For more information, please visit: www.ptninfo.com/joshgold/info