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The Medical Tourism Climate Survey 2013
The medical travel sector is seeing solid growth in international patient numbers and expects the momentum to keep building in the months ahead, according to a new survey of 400 clinics, hospitals and medical tourism facilitators in 77 countries.
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Sixty percent of respondents to the Medical Tourism Climate Survey 2013 reported growth in international patients during the past 12 months. The survey was conducted in February for the International Medical Travel Journal.
Fully 80% of all respondents said they expected the number of international patients to grow over the next year, and nearly half (49%) said they anticipated annual growth of more than 10% over the next five years.
Significance for travel agents
The survey results have positive implications for travel sellers interested in developing a medical travel niche by partnering with medical travel providers, according to Anne Marie Moebes, executive vice president of Well-Being Travel, a marketing group for travel agents and a sister company to Travel Market Report.
“This is a good litmus test and clearly demonstrates that the medical travel industry is bullish on the outlook for medical travel. It continues to be apparent that a strong distribution channel needs to be in place to handle this growth,” she said.
Travel agents can fill that role, Moebes suggested. “The travel seller is the knowledgeable professional who can provide a high-quality experience for the patient traveler, domestically and internationally, while allowing the health care provider to handle a high quality of care for the patient.”
Treatment growth areas
The survey also looked at issues affecting medical tourism growth as well as prime growth areas. Key findings include:
• Cosmetic surgery is expected to be the biggest growth area over the next five years (cited by 56% of the respondents).
• Dental treatment (43%), cancer treatment (43%) and infertility treatment (40%) are also expected to experience significant growth.
Top destinations
• The U.S., Thailand and Singapore were ranked by respondents as the leading destinations in terms of quality and range of services provided to international patients.
• India, Thailand and the U.S. were named the most popular destinations in terms of patient numbers.
• In five years’ time, India, Thailand and Turkey will draw the highest number of medical travelers, followed by the U.S., Germany and Singapore, respondents said.
• The U.K., U.S. and Russia were named as the leading source countries for international patients.
Article by travelmarketreport.com
