Medical Tourism Case Study

1.4 Medical tourism in Asia
The medical tourism marketplace these days consists of a growing number of countries competing for patients. Reddy (2013) states that most medical tourists come from developed countries while most medical tourism destination are developing countries. Gahlinger 2008) claims that the majority of nearly 50 countries that promote medical tourism are in Asia and Latin America. Nevertheless, Asia becomes an outstanding destination for medical tourism according to the research of McKinsey and Company (2007). The research found that 45% of North American patients traveled Asian countries for medical treatment while 26% of them traveled to Latin America. Among European countries, 39% sought medical treatment in Asia but only 5% in Latin America. Asian countries that are recognised as medical tourism destinations include Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and India (Renub Research, 2011). According to Gupta (2007), these countries attracted a combined 1.3 million of medical tourists per year from around the world and are tended to generate more than USD$ 4billion by 2012.
Thailand became well known as a destination for medical treatment in the early 1970s owing to the specialty in sex change operations, and cosmetic surgery without

Thailand has become reputed as a destination for medical tourism since the support of various government-sponsored promotional campaigns particularly “The Amazing Thailand” launched in 2000 for purpose of turning the country into a regional medical hub (Vadanabha, 2007). In consequence, Thailand has grown quickly, with arrivals increasing by an average of 16.5% per annum between 2001 and 2007 and approximately 1.4 million foreign patients travelled to Thailand specifically for medical services in 2008 (Connell, 2006 and ISMED,