Medical Tourism Market: Global Industry Analysis, Trends and Forecast, 2014

September 30 01:00 2015 by ushadmin

Medical tourism is a popular trend that has come about due to advances in the field of medical technology, growing number of patients and high level of expertise in the medical field. Simply explained, people travelling from their home country to another country with the intention to secure medical treatment, which might not be available in their homeland, is known as medical tourism. Segments such as cosmetic surgery, dental care, fertility treatment, cardiology and cardiac surgery are the key promoters of medical tourism. Medical tourism has made it easy for patients to travel to other countries and get much-needed medical treatment and undergo surgeries. On the other hand, this does have some disadvantages such as low quality medical treatment. Also people from developed and advanced economies travel to emerging nations, thus affecting the revenue generation in their respective nation, for instance approximately 1 million Americans travelled outside the US for medical treatment in 2014.

Medical tourism is rapidly gaining popularity in Asian countries owing to features such as reasonable cost of medical treatments and surgery, advanced medical technology, hospitality services, medical professionals and expertise, qualified doctors and nurses, favorable currency exchange rate etc. Trusted international accreditation and high quality medical services in low prices are the key drivers of medical tourism. Patients traveling abroad for medical tourism can save 30 % to 90%. As a result, the demand for medical tourism is expected to witness exponential growth over the forecast period. However, there could be restrains along with the growth drivers such as unprofessional conduct or false medical practices, inadequate additional medical care etc. The medical tourism market is segmented on the basis of types of medical treatment provided and on the basis of geography. On the basis of types of treatment it is segmented into cosmetic treatment, cardiovascular treatment, fertility treatment, dental treatment, orthopedic treatment and other general treatments. On the basis of geography, the market has been segmented into Asia pacific, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, and South America.