Health Tourism: A 72 Billion $ Industry

This sector has long been notorious to analyse. Recent advancements in data gathering and communication have revealed the full extent of recent growth. If we include not only medical treatments carried out by differing service providers but dental and cosmetic procedures as well, the numbers paint a very different picture. A study published in the American Journal of Medicine revealed that the number of medical tourists to all countries in 2017 was estimated at 14-16 million. Now that we know this, we simply have to find their average spend to know the true value of the industry. Foreign patients can actually spend up to $6,000 on each trip, bringing the total amount of money generated up to $72 billion. This is no small amount of money and countries in Asia and the Middle East are moving to capitalise on a global business that is worth around 36.9 billion in 2018! These countries are able provide the same service at the same quality and safety level due to lower staff pay levels, medical indemnity costs and more. The end price therefore seems greatly reduced to the patient, drawing them from their home country for treatment. This is so lucrative that even American hospitals, such as Harvard, John Hopkins and more have begun founding medical centres and clinics outside of the U.S. Over the last few years, medical tourism has gained popularity among highly industrialized countries such as the United States. The number of medical tourists from the United has increased from about 750,000 in 2007, to over 1.4 million a decade later in 2017. While exact statistics for medical tourism are difficult to confirm, these estimations indicate a strong potential for medical tourism in the future (Source: Health-Tourism).