Medical Tourism Network Thailand, Study Report - Well being

Upon approval of the strategic strategy to develop Thailand as a Medical Hub of Asia, the strategy aims to promote connected sectors consist of medical care services, health promotion tourism, and Thai herbal & health goods. The core home business in the medical care services is the private hospitals and the number is now up to 256 private hospitals all more than the nation. In addition, there is alot more than a hundred of private hospitals be able to accommodate the foreign shoppers. Due to the fact 2002 the number of foreign shoppers in Thailand is high and has risen just about every year. There were 1.42 million foreign shoppers making use of medical care services in Thailand and created income up to 37,300 million Baht particularly in 2007.The medical care services distribute income to other linkage industries, for example, pharmaceutical, medical gear, medial tourism, hotels, restaurants, and so on. consequently, the growth bring about job creation and financial expa nsion overall.Accordingly, the value of those organizations to tourism business caused Tourism Authority of Thailand to study the Structure of Business Investment in the Medical Tourism Market connected to the big business : private hospitals and its linkage industries in order to acquire beneficial data to additional develop techniques and policies to promote and bolster the medical tourism business.Purposes of the Study

Raise the competitiveness of the entrepreneurs and investors of each big-sized enterprises and modest and medium enterprises (SMEs). Assistance medical tourism-linkage industries. Promote investment in the tourism business. Reduce investment difficulties and obstacles in dealing with the government sector.

Scope of the Study

Target group : The target of this study can be divided into three groups as follows Key business entrepreneurs: The names of the private hospitals with the prospective to accommodate foreign tourists or shoppers were sorted out from the official national private hospital list of Therapeutic Illness Division, Department of Wellness Assistance Services, Ministry of Public Wellness (Information on September 2008). It is identified that there are 132 private hospitals nationwide which are eligible for this study. Linkage business entrepreneurs: 37 linkage business entrepreneurs with the prospective to accommodate foreign tourists or shoppers were chosen by purposive sampling so as to be the sample of every business. Authorities and policymakers: 12 medical tourism public organizations and associations were chosen. Key competing nations: The prospective competing nations in the similar region with the purpose to promote their medical tourism and to attract foreigners to use me dical care services inside their nations, namely, Singapore, Malaysia, India, and South Korea were chosen. Target places: In this study, the target places are divided into three places by the prospective in terms of tourism and medical care services, and in every area, there are prospective private hospitals as follows High Possible Tourism Provinces : 92 Possible private hospitals. Medium Possible Tourism Provinces : 29 Possible private hospitals Border Provinces : 11 Possible private hospitals

Terms:Medical Tourism refers to the traveling with the objective to acquire medical care services in normal hospitals or medical centers. The actions involve treatments, health prevention and health rehabilitation, for example, check-up, medical treatments, dentistry, cosmetics surgery, transsexual surgery, and so on. This study disregards holistic health or health promotion tourismPotential private hospital refers to the hospital which fulfils the following criteria:

Offers medical care services with modern day medical gear and technologies by specialist physicians, hassle-free and speedy services with hospitality, and has the prospective to support foreigners. There must be health treatments services, e.g. Medical Check up Medical Treatments Dental Therapy Lasik Cosmetic Surgery / Plastic Surgery Physical Therapy Target foreigners like Leisure Tourists Medical tourists who intend to use medical care services, excluding wellness tourists who intend to use healthy services, e.g. spas, Thai massage and and so on. Expatriates Has the prospective to accommodate foreign tourists with supporting facilities and personnel, such as Having personnel to take care of foreigners, e.g. interpreters and the foreign client care staff, and so on. Having facilities for foreigners, e.g., rooms, international foods, cable Tv, magazines, and and so on.

Private hospitals can be divided into three sizes as follows

A modest sized hospital refers to the hospital with 31-50 beds. A medium sized hospital refers to the hospital with 51-150 beds. A big sized hospital refers to the hospital with alot more than 150 beds.

High Possible Tourism Provinces refers to a big tourism destination with the high prospective to offer tourism and medical care services, like the following provinces.

Bangkok Metropolitan Area and its vicinity Central Region Hua Hin - Cha-am Districts (Prachuapkhirikhan and Phetchaburi) South Region Phuket and Koh Samui (Suratthani) North East Region Udonthani North Region Chiang Mai East Region Pattaya (Chonburi)

Medium Possible Tourism Provinces refers to a minor tourism destination with the moderate prospective to offer tourism and medical care services, like the following provinces.

Central Region Ayutthaya, Kanchanaburi, Lopburi, and Ratchaburi South Region Songkhla (Hatyai), Trang, Krabi, Nakhonsithammarat,Ranong and Chumphon North East Region Nakhonratchasima, Khon Kaen and Loei North Region Nakhonsawan, Phitsanulok, Maehongson and Sukhothai East Region Rayong and Chanthaburi

Border Tourism Provinces refers to a tourism destination or area connected to the neighboring nations which has the moderate prospective to offer tourism and medical care services, like the following provinces.

Chiang Rai Tak Mukdahan Nong Khai Ubonratchathani Nakhonpanom Sakaeo Trat Yala (Betong)

Cheap cost (not high-priced) means having lower medical expenses with the similar medical service supplied by other nations.Worth revenue means the satisfaction obtained following making use of services. Even though the expense is greater, the consumer is prepared to pay and feel worth revenue with reasonable cost.Business partner refers to an organization or a company which has some degree of involvement with one a further, for example, becoming suppliers, shoppers, and distributors, and so on. This contains the organizations linkage to raw supplies, intermediate goods, final goods, and services. The home business which can share their shoppers with every other is also included. Frequently, home business partners typically support every other people home business operation.Distributor refers to a general individual, a legal individual, or an organization which is officially assigned as a item and/or service distributor of a distinct company or organization.1.) Circumstanc e of International Medical TourismMedical tourism gains high reputation from tourists about the globe. Relating to the data supplied by Bworldonline and ITRI Industrial Economics & Information Center, IEK, it is stated that in 2005 there were 19 million medical tourists worldwide, creating income of up to 20,000 million US dollars in total. It is also projected that this business would be larger, double in size in fact, equivalent to 40 million medical tourists worldwide or income of 40,000 million US dollars in 2010.There are a few fundamental elements facilitating the growth of medical tourism business as followsFirst, most men and women of created nations, specifically the US, are not in the public health insurance coverage system. Relating to the report of the US Census Bureau conducted during 2007-2008, it is identified that 86.7 million Americans or 29% of all do not have any health insurance coverage.Second, the US health service expenses tend to continuously rise, re sulting in an increase in medical expenses. Presently, the US has the worlds highest medical expenses.Third, the medical care services in created nations, e.g. the US, Canada, England, Sweden, Italy, and so on. typically have a long waiting list, so it takes particularly long time to access the services in those nations.Fourth, the medical expenses in building nations and Asian nations are drastically cheaper than the expenses in the US and the European nations.Fifth, at present, the good quality of medical care services in building nations and Asian nations is equivalent or even greater than the one of created nations.Sixth, due to the cut off the rising medical expenses of some big sized firms in the US, they tend to choose medical outsourcing by letting their staff get medical treatments abroad with lower medical expenses.Key Market place Top CountriesCurrently, Asia is considered as the worlds highest prospective medical tourism continent and generates income of up to th ree.four billion US dollars from foreigners expenses, or equivalent to 12.7% of the global market, which is estimated to be 26.77 billion US dollars in total. In fact, the growth of medical tourism in Asia is projected to develop at a CAGR of 17.6% during 2007-2012.

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