Health Tourism: Statistics & Facts

Statistics with estimates and forecasts related to health or medical tourism industry vary widely among top researches worldwide. These disparities arise from inconsistencies in defining medical travel and a lack of verifiable data at the country level. But the fact is that medical tourism gaining popularity especially in developed countries and growing day by day. So, how big is the market?

It is believed that there are over 10 million medical tourists, which cross international borders for healthcare purposes annually while the OECD estimates this figure up to 50 million worldwide. Although it is difficult to forecast the medical tourism market some researches predict the market at around $50 billion to $65 billion in 2014. It is also expected that medical tourism industry will be continuously growing at a rate of 15-25%.

That is why many countries known as leading medical tourism hubs make huge investments in both healthcare and tourism industry seeking to become a major player in the market.

U.S. Healthcare Statistics

• 80% of the demand of traveling abroad for care were driven by cost savings
• 64% of patients that traveled overseas for care did not have health insurance.
• The cost of medical treatment(85%) and state-of-the-art technology (83%) were the most important factors in their decision to travel abroad for treatment.
• 83% of patients traveled with a companion.
• 90% of patients or their companions engaged in tourism activities.
• 85% of US patients found that they received more personalized medical care in other countries than in the US
• 70% of patients rated their medical care as excellent.
• 86% of US patients said they would travel again overseas for medical care
• 36% of patients that had previously traveled overseas for medical treatment used a medical tourism facilitator.
• Medical tourists spend between $7,475 and $15,833 per medical trip.
• 33% of patients traveled abroad for cosmetic surgery.
• Nearly 27% of patients had previously traveled to a foreign country to receive medical care, most were female, all were between ages 45 and 64; the majority were White/Caucasian; all were American; all were college educated; half had household incomes between $50,000 and $100,000; and some had health insurance (50%), while others did not.

Top Specialties:

• Cosmetic Surgery
• Dental Care
• Cardiovascular Surgery
• Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
• Cancer Treatment
• Reproductive or Fertility Treatment
• Weight loss or Bariatric Surgery
• Check ups or Health Screenings
• Second Opinions

Top Destinations: America

- Mexico

• Dental care, weight loss and cosmetic surgeries.
• Cost-savings up to 35-60% (average, in comparison to the U.S.)
• JCI accredited medical centers.
• 60% of international visitors arrived from the U.S. in 2012
• 650,000 – the number of expected U.S. medical tourists by 2020

Outlines: due to its proximity Mexico is good choice for US patients seeking dental care, weight loss and cosmetic surgeries but unwilling to endure trans-Pacific flight.

- Costa Rica

• Dental care and cosmetic surgery
• Cost savings up to 40-65%
• Costa Rica attracted nearly 50,000 medical tourists (mostly from the U.S. and Canada) in 2012 and each one spent an average of $7,000. Close to half of these medical travelers were dental, followed by orthopedics, weight loss surgeries, gynecology and plastic surgery. Costa Rica is looking to double these numbers up to 100,000 medical tourists in 2014.

Outlines: it is a good option for those who seek dental care, plastic surgery and minimally invasive procedures but do not wish to endure trans-Pacific flight, especially for US tourists, Canadians, etc. Costa Rica also specialized in recovery retreats from extensive surgery. Major surgery here is not recommended.

- Brazil

• Cosmetic surgery
• Cost savings 25-35%
• The local medical tourism industry claims that Brazil has grown from 48,000 foreign patients in 2005 to 180,000 in 2009, and that numbers are growing by 30% annually.

Top Destinations: Middle East

- Israel

• The destination is known for IVF specialists, as well as other procedures.
• Cost savings from 25% up to 50% depending on procedure
• First-class healthcare and facilities
• The forefront of medical breakthroughs such as organ transplants, coronary bypass surgery, and in vitro fertilization
• Russian and English are widely spoken

Outlines: right option for patients seeking complex treatment. It is also an opportunity to mix high-quality treatment with the therapeutic benefits of Dead Sea, that make Israel a healing destination, especially for patients with skin problems, rheumatic or pulmonary disorders.

- Turkey

• At the crossroads between Middle East, Europe and Asia.
• Many European and American trained doctors provide cardiac, orthopedic, cosmetic, and laser eye surgeries in JCI accredited medical centers as well as dental care and cancer treatment
• Turkey has more JCI accredited medical centers than any other destination worldwide
• The sixth most visited travel destination
• All inclusive care packages for international patients are available
• Cost savings up to 60-75%
• 150,000 people travel to Turkey for treatment annually with another 250,000 coming for thermal tourism and rehabilitation services.
• The number of medical tourists coming to Turkey for treatment increasing regularly for the past five years. The Ministry of Health of Turkey announced special healthcare program for the promotion of health tourism. It intends to increase medical tourists arrivals from 270,000 in 2012 to 2 million by 2023 through introducing tax-free healthcare zones tailored for international patients.

Outlines: quality treatment at a low cost with an added taste of tourism. Turkey has strong tourism infrastructure and offers international patient services covering all procedures from the day of request to the day of departure.

Top Destinations: Asia

The number of medical tourists traveling to Asia is expected to surpass 10 million by 2015 with Thailand, India and Singapore expected to control more than 80% market share.

- India

• Major surgery: orthopedic and cardiac surgery.
• Cost-savings 60-90%
• 27 JCI-accredited hospitals
• Rates of success equal or surpass the U.S.
• Indian medical tourism produces over $2 billion annually.
• The number of medical tourists in India has grown by 30% and it is estimated that by the year 2015, India will receive nearly half a million medical tourists annually.

Outlines: the savings are phenomenal. India is a good choice for major surgery as orthopedic, cardiac, eye surgery but it should be the medical center with strong credentials in your particular case. Aftercare travel options are not as comfortable as in the other destinations. Ayurvedic medicine is also practiced to treat symptoms of many diseases

- Singapore

• Highly ranked healthcare system offers cancer and stem cell treatments
• Cost savings 35-45%
• One of the highest standards of living in Asia
• English is widely spoken
• Medical tourist arrivals are expected to be more than 1 million by 2016
• About 25 medical institutions with more than 9,600 doctors, 1,500 dentists, and 29,000 nurses catering to international patient services, as of 2012
• It is ranked sixth out of 191 countries in the world and is the best healthcare system in Asia by World Health Organization (WHO) in 2000

Outlines: Singapore is alternative to India and Thailand but more expensive. It has a number of cutting edge therapies, especially for cancer treatment, that sometimes are not available anywhere else. With wide range of amenities Singapore is surely the right choice to mix treatment with travel pleasure. Due to its distance from the USA, Singapore is more of a destination for patients traveling from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia, although American tourism is becoming more common.

- Thailand

• The whole host of procedures and surgeries
• Many JCI-accredited facilities.
• Cost savings 55-75%
• Over 26 million visitors arrived in Thailand in 2013. About 2.5 million of those travelers came for health or medical tourism reasons.
• In 2012 the top five nationalities of 2,530,000 international patients traveled to Thailand for treatment were: Japan, the U.S., the UK, GCC and Australia.
• Thailand earned over $4 billion in revenue from medical tourism in 2013
• Thailand is the leader in medical tourist arrivals holding more than 40% share in Asia medical tourist arrivals in 2011. Its medical travel and health travel market is also expected to more than double by 2016 from its market in 2011.

Outlines: Thailand is the largest medical tourism hub in total volume and in both high-end and low-end procedures. Thailand’s two largest medical facilities are Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospitals, which annually treat over 400,000 and 150,000 foreign patients, respectively. The prices are about 20% higher than India’s, on average, with the main advantages of better service for travelers. For patients seeking a number of smaller procedures, Thailand is a sure bet. So Thailand is the major player in the medical industry as the most balanced of the medical hubs and overall strongest in several categories.

- Malaysia

• Check ups, alternative medicine and cosmetic surgery
• Cost savings up to 60-80%
• English is widely spoken
• Medical tourists coming to Malaysia rise from 580,000 in 2011 to 760,000 in 2013
• Medical tourism industry in Malaysia increased 8 fold in 2012 compared to 2004 and generated about $15 million in revenue

Outlines: Malaysian medical centers are pioneers of the ‘well-person’ packages, which include a range of diagnostic services such as MRI, blood work, bone density scans, X-rays, and dental, vision, and hearing exams, costing about $500. Malaysia is also becoming a destination for surgery, on par with Thailand but at a lower cost.

- Korea:

• Cosmetic surgery, cancer and spinal treatments
• All inclusive care packages for international patients are also available
• Cost savings 35-50%
• One of the world’s most technologically advanced countries
• South Korea has many JCI accredited facilities and offers alternative to Western medicine
• Unique healing techniques to treat pane and spinal injuries
• Herbal medicine to strengthen disintegrated bones, discs, and ligaments
• Acupuncture to relieve muscle tension
• According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 210,000 non-Korean patients received medical treatment in Korea in 2013, which is an increase of 32.5% in compare with 2012. 25% of patients were Chinese, followed by 16% Americans, 11,5% Russians, 8% Japanese and 5,6% Mongolians. It expects 1 million medical tourists by 2020 with Chinese travelers representing the largest segment.
• The treatment types most commonly sought by medical travelers: internal medicine, general health check-ups, skin problems, cosmetic surgery and gynecologic services.
• According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Korea had the highest rate of cosmetic surgery per capital of any country in the world.

- Taiwan

• Full health check ups
• Cost savings 40-55%
• Taiwan hosted over 200,000 medical travelers in 2013
• 50% of patients coming from China

Top destinations: Europe

- Hungary

• Dental care and cosmetic surgery
• Cost savings 35-45%
• The cost for an implant is as low as € 500
• ‘All in one’ care packages are also available
• Health and wellness tourism is another category that led Hungary in terms of value growth.

Outlines: like Costa Rica Hungary offers cheap but reliable dental and cosmetic surgery and very convenient for Europeans by air or train. But it is not suitable for major surgery and is expensive by travel standards.

- Spain

• Over 20,000 international patients travel to Spain for various health treatments in 2012
• According local statistics over 500,000 travelers visit country annually in search of private healthcare but 70% of them are return visits.

Other highly developed countries in Europe such as Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy are also enticing international patients but healthcare services in these destination are more expensive.

Key Factors or Drivers

Statistics and figures around medical tourism may differ depending on a wide range of criteria taken into consideration. According to some of researches decision-making driver is the treatment cost while another one may recognize it as high quality or top-notch technology. Glinos and Baeten(10) assume that patient prefer to be treated ‘as close to home as possible in a system they feel familiar with, but under some circumstances they might be willing or even prefer to be treated abroad’(11) McKinsey through conducted research(12) shows quality drivers as the major ones that influence patient’s decision on destination.

So far as the matter of key factor is liable to dispute and depends on patient’s personal requirements or considerations, the main drivers of medical tourism may be listed as follows:

• Cost of treatment
• Waiting time
• Lack of insurance or underinsurance
• Unavailability (of services in home country)
• Trust in healthcare system (advanced technology or healthcare quality)
• Proximity (regarding distance)
• Familiarity (regarding culture, language, habits, religion, history)
• Bioethical legislation

In some studies, these drivers are also divided into push and pull factors or ‘have to’ and ‘want to’ considerations.

Medical Tourism Patterns

Traveling patterns between source and target destination are also well established. For example, patients seeking dental care in Costa Rica or Mexico tend to be from the USA; the Europeans more often travel to Hungary or Turkey for the same procedure; patients visiting Turkey for cosmetic services tend to be from the Middle East.

The procedure may also be associated with particular destination, e.g.:

• IVF, Fertility treatment – Israel, Turkey
• Cancer treatment – Singapore, Israel
• Gender Reassignment - Thailand
• Health screenings – Malaysia, Korea
• Orthopedics, Cardiac Surgery – India

Some countries exploit longstanding historical connections, e.g., between the UK and India, or the UK and Cyprus.

Central America and Eastern Europe may be considered for very minor procedures since for major procedures India, Thailand, and Singapore are more preferred, among which the latter is the most expensive. Singapore’s main selling point is the confidence it inspires as a developed country by contrast to its competitors, even though all this advantage may be a matter of perception and marketing. India and Thailand are surely the strongest options in terms of cost, capability and quality. Thailand offers the whole host of procedures and surgeries and smoother tourism experience than India while the latter appeals to patients seeking major surgeries that are the only purpose of a trip.

Summary

As previously stated statistics over medical tourism vary depending on many criteria taken into consideration. But they may be valuable and useful in regards to help patients looking for the right option or to attach their priorities in decision-making.

All these favorable figures give a common idea about the concept of medical tourism worldwide. Hence for patients seeking treatment abroad it is highly recommended to check international healthcare provider’s credentials.

It is also a well-known fact that there are always risks involved whether you are treated in home country or overseas. So, if you did all your best to choose the right option, weighed all pros and cons, just commit to your decision.