Asian Medical Tourism to Cross US$5 Billion by 2012

Medical tourism is emerging as one of the fastest growing markets in Asia, with the rising number of foreign tourists coming for their treatments into the region. Our report "Asian Medical Tourism Analysis (2008-2012)" has found that medical tourism market has recorded a reasonable growth of around 11% over 2007 to reach at US$ 3.8 Billion in 2008. One of the main reasons for the growth of the industry is the low cost of the treatments and the world-class services.

"The patients are ready to take up treatments in the countries like Thailand, India, and Singapore despite the financial crisis that eroded the purchasing power of the foreign tourists," said a research analyst at RNCOS. 

Various countries that are the most sought after destinations for the medical tourists' arriving to Asia are - Malaysia, India, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and South Korea. Thailand and Singapore are the leading destinations for medical tourism that together accounted for 64% of the total Asian medical tourism market in 2008.

These countries offer various complex treatments at affordable costs. The cost of some highly sophisticated treatments such as hip replacement, heart valve replacement is 8-10 times lower in India and Thailand than in the United States. Also, foreign tourists get their treatments like cardiac procedures done in the Asian countries like Thailand and India in a week or two, whereas it takes nearly a year to get treated in developed countries.

The future prospect of the medical tourism industry seems encouraging. The Asian countries will continue leveraging from their highly developed health infrastructure such as well-qualified medical professionals, internationally accredited healthcare institutions and the hot spot destinations. The Asian region, mainly comprising of India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and South Korea is expected to receive 6.1 Million medical tourists by the end of 2012.

The report "Asian Medical Tourism Analysis (2008-2012)" provides a deep insight about the emerging medical tourism markets in Asia, the market trends responsible for the present performance of the industry and the future growth potential of the industry. It provides key information to clients looking ahead to venture into these markets as well as helps them to plan out strategies before going for an investment/partnership in the concerned markets.

For more information visit: http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM105.htm