Medical tourism or Global Healthcare refers to people traveling to other countries to obtain medical treatment not available at home or take advantage of the packages which typically cost far less than the procedures at home. The medical tourism industry is growing at leap and bound. Medical Tourism Resource Guide (MTRG) reflects on the latest trends in the medical tourism industry emerging around the world.
1. Status of the medical tourism market in the Gulf Nations
The medical tourism market is growing at a steady pace. However, Gulf nations have seen a decline in outbound medical tourism as the availability of various social and economic factors have brought down a decline in the numbers of patients traveling abroad for treatment.
2. Significance of Unique Value Proposition (UVP) in the Medical Tourism Industry
The lack of a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is among the most common shortcomings in medical tourism marketing. As marketing in the medical travel industry is usually focused on advertising and promotion, UVP explains to your audience how you solve a problem or meet the need of your customer.
It highlights the specific benefits of your services and tells your potential customer why they should get their treatment done from you. Most importantly, a UVP communicates how you are different from your competition. When you tell your target audience what you can offer that others are not offering, they will certainly prefer you over all others. This important component is still missing from the strategy of medical tourism marketing.
3. Is India’s Medical Tourism Market Worth $8 Billion?
India has emerged as a lucrative medical tourism market and according to a bold estimate, the value of this market may even reach $8 billion dollars by the year 2020. According to Grant Thornton, 200,000 tourists come to India every year for medical care, including complicated surgeries, this means that India currently has 18% of the global medical tourism market. If things go smoothly, it will reach 20% by 2020. This information also tells us that the average revenue per medical tourist is approximately USD 15,000.
4. NHS Shortcomings Are Causing Patients To Seek Treatment Overseas
Another recent trend that has emerged in the UK is that due to various shortcomings, women are going abroad for fertility treatment. The increasing pressure on NHS (National Health Service) budgets, as well as, a shortage of donors have negatively affected IVF treatment that was provided by the NHS. It is due to these shortcomings and high-costs, that British patients are seeking infertility treatment abroad.
These are some of the emerging trends that are shaping the medical tourism industry around the world:
- Stem cell treatments
- Regenerative medicine
- Genomics
The limitations and financial hardships that can be faced are becoming predominantly obsolete as patients become more educated about their options. With the rising popularity of medical tourism, the world of healthcare is rapidly changing in remarkable ways.
Reference:
https://www.imtj.com/articles/what-is-the-true-state-of-the-medical-tourism-industry/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/learnings-from-10th-world-medical-tourism-global-congress-jagyasi