Health Tourism:

Content, Trends and Strategies Assoc.Prof. Yıldırım Yılmaz Akdeniz University

Health Tourism and Thalassotherapy Education, Research and Application Center

yyilmaz@akdeniz.edu.tr

7th Meeting of the OIC/COMCEC Private Sector Tourism Forum, 5 September 2019, İstanbul "Prospects for the Development of Health Tourism in the OIC Member States"

• Health travel movement changed..

Developing countries

Developed countries

Developed countries Developing countries

Largely driven by the: • Low-cost treatments • Increase in quality • Cheap flights and • Internet sources of information

from

to

Health Tourism

• For thousands of years

• A form of tourism to get medical treatment

• Comprises of services associated with tourism like transport, accommodation , and hospitality

• Health, wellness and medical tourism have grown exponentially in recent years.

• Yet, the health tourism segment is still not well defined.

• Health tourism contribute to physical, mental and/or spiritual health through medical and wellness-based activities

• Health tourism is the umbrella term for the subtypes: wellness tourism and medical tourism.

• Wellness tourism aims to improve and balance all of the main domains of human life

• To engage in preventive, proactive, lifestyle enhancing activities such as fitness, healthy eating, relaxation, and healing treatments

• Medical tourism involves the use of evidence-based medical healing resources and services (both invasive and non-invasive).

• This may include diagnosis, treatment, cure, prevention and rehabilitation.

Medical Tourism Products

• Treatments may span the full range of medical services, but most commonly includes;

▫ dental care,

▫ cosmetic surgery,

▫ elective surgery, and

▫ fertility treatment.

Health tourism grows due to..

• Improved availability of health technology

• Reduced waiting time

• Decreasing costs

• Advertising by companies

• Current data on the outcomes of medical travel are insufficient and rarely generated using rigorous methods

Source: Bulletin of the World Health Organization,2015

Receiving

country

Estimated no. of

annual medical

travellers Year and reference

Australia 13 000 201029

Brazil 49 000–180 000 200517 and 200930

Costa Rica 25 000–150 000 2006,31 200732 and 200833

Cuba 3500 200326

Cuba 200 000 200732

Egypt 68 000–108 000 2003,34 2004,28 200528 and 200635

Germany 50 000–70 000 200828 and 200929

Hungary 1 500 000–1 800 000 200728 and 200927

Hungary 300 000 200830

India 1 000 000–1 180 000 200436 and 200537

India 100 000–150 000 200524,29,38–40

India 300 000–731 000 2006,41 2007,1 20085 and 201039

Israel 35 000 200932

Jordan 120 000–250 000 2002,34 200428 and 200930

Malaysia 300 000–489 000 2006,41 2007,24,29,42 20085 and 201039

Philippines 100 000–250 000 2006,24,41 20092 and 201043

Republic of

Korea 60 000 20092,29

Singapore 270 000–450 000 2004,31 2005,24,40 20061,29 and 20085

Singapore 571 000–725 000 2007,42 20082 and 201039

South Africa 330 000 201044

Thailand 450 000–700 000 2004,45 200641 and 200725

Thailand 1 000 000–1 580 000

2004,36,38 2006,46 2007,1 20085,29and

201039

Tunisia 10 000–42 000 2002,34 200338 and 200728

Turkey 15 000 200728

United Kingdom 52 000 201047

United States of

America 250 000–400 000 200616 and 20071,5

Health Tourism in EU (2014)

• 0.3 percent of the EU economy.

• €46.9 billion in revenue

• 4.6 percent of overall tourism revenues

• 56 million domestic arrivals

• 5.1 million international arrivals

Health Tourism in EU.. cont

• Germany, France, and Sweden are the main players in the health tourism industry in the EU

• Wellness tourism makes up 66-75 percent of EU health tourism

• More than 75 percent of EU health tourism revenues come from five countries: Sweden, France, Poland, Italy, and Germany

• Market reports indicate stability and an increase in health tourism

• Most medical health tourism clinics also serve local patients and use medical tourism as an additional revenue stream

• Health tourism may have several benefits to the labor market and the environment

Health Tourism in OECD

• Bilateral exchanges between OECD members (e.g. United States to Mexico; United States to Korea; northern Europe to central and eastern Europe).

• Flows of patients from OECD countries to Lower and Middle Income Countries (LMIC), in particular India, Thailand, and Malaysia

• Turkey, Latvia, Lithuania have set health tourism as key priorities in tourism development

Health Tourism Strategies of Some

Countries • India; a special visa–M visa – to cater medical

tourists as well as allowing tax breaks to providers.

• Singapore; SingaporeMedicine as a multi-agency government-industry partnership aiming to promote Singapore as a medical hub

• Malaysia; tax incentives for buildings, equipment, training, advertising and IT, and providers encouraged to pursue accreditation with an emphasis on quality

• Dubai, alongside those of India, Thailand, and Malaysia is considered as the first wave of Asian medical tourism

• Hungary sought to harness the opportunities presented by EU accession and develop a medical tourism industry.

• Japanese and Korean; governments to place medical tourism at the heart of plans for future economic growth

• Poland; facilitates medical tourism through private companies serving Polish citizens alongside medical tourism

Taiwan; Two phases of official strategies were

established.

• Phase A: promoting the quality and quantity of

medical tourism ;

• Phase B: Establishing international health care industry park

Beyond national strategies, national policy can

directly foster the domestic medical tourism industry

• South Korea allowed hospitals to fully market health services to foreign patients

• UAE and Turkey support trade fairs

• Singapore and Dubai encourage the acquisition of international accreditation by their hospitals

The medical tourism industry is dynamic

and volatile

• Economic climate

• Domestic policy changes

• Political instability

• Travel restrictions

• Advertising practices

• Geo-political shifts

• Innovative and pioneering forms of treatment

External Quality Assessment and

Accreditation • Quality maximisation and risk

minimisation are keys for creating better and safer health care services

• Standards are at the heart of accreditation ▫ Joint Commission International (JCI) (US) ▫ Quality Healthcare Advice Trent Accreditation

(UK) ▫ Australian Council for Healthcare Standards ▫ Canadian Council on Health Services and the

Society

• However, there is no universal official agency/group, such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World Tourism Organization, engage accreditation

Websites

• Technological platforms to access healthcare information, advertising and to connect consumers with healthcare providers and brokers

▫ Discussion forums,

▫ File sharing,

▫ Posting information and sharing experience,

▫ Member only pages,

▫ Advertisements and online tours

Brokers

• Brokers and their web-sites tailor surgical packages to individual requirements: ▫ Flights, ▫ Treatment, ▫ Hotel, and ▫ Recuperation

• Brokers may specialise in particular target markets or procedures (e.g. dentistry, or cosmetic surgery), or destinations (e.g. Poland, Hungary)

Insurance

• Insurance products developed:

▫ to cover contingencies when travelling for surgery

▫ to cover the costs of further treatments following surgery abroad

Providers • Providers are primarily from the private sector but are

also drawn from some public sectors (e.g. Singapore and

within Cuba)

• Small clinical providers may include solo practices or

dual partnerships, offering a full range of treatments.

• Extremely large medical tourism facilities clinical

specialism is the order of the day

• Securing accreditation from international programmes

• Partnerships and oversight by overseas hospitals and

universities

Health tourism and Halal tourism

• Malaysia; halal certification requirements includes medicines, pharmaticals, cosmetics and confectioneries.

• Promote medical tourism to the prospective Muslim medical tourists

Barriers to Health Tourism • Information systems

• Marketing

• Policy and Legislative

• Infrastructural

• Product development

• Quality of service

• Administration's attitude

• Manpower

• Socio-cultural

• Economic

• Networks

How to Develop Health Tourism in OIC

• Stakeholder-driven collaborative approach

▫ Residents,

▫ Governmental agencies,

▫ Suppliers,

▫ Providers of healthcare services,

▫ Business owners,

▫ Healthcare tourists, and

▫ Developers of health care facilities.

How to Develop Health Tourism in OIC

• Sharing technical resources and expertise

• Increasing awareness of Health Tourism

• Developing a marketing strategy through joint programs

• Facilitating visa procedures

• Advertising among member states

• Creating “Health Tourism Committee”

Thank you..