Achievable Goals | SAIGON GIAI PHONG NEWSPAPER

The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) is targeting US$500 million in healthcare tourism revenue this year. According to Dr Mohamed Ali Abu Bakar, CEO of MHTC, Malaysia’s healthcare tourism industry has seen positive growth after the government implemented a visa-free policy of up to 30 days for Chinese and Indian nationals from December 1, 2023.

Previously, revenue in the first 11 months of 2023 reached more than 400 million USD. According to the above official, the total revenue of the healthcare tourism sector not only exceeded the initial target for 2023 but also reached the industry's target of 420 million USD for the period of 2021-2025, 2 years early. This result is the highest achievement of the industry, surpassing the best achievement recorded before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019 of 360 million USD. In addition to the above-mentioned decision to exempt entry visas, the new entry policy also helps facilitate the planning and processing of treatment and healthcare services, reduce visa application costs, and help medical tourists return to receive further treatment from specialists. Mr. Mohamed Ali added that this visa mechanism was implemented promptly because many countries have relaxed their entry and exit conditions after entering the endemic phase two years ago.

In Asia, medical tourism is expanding rapidly. Some countries such as Thailand, South Korea, India, etc. have been and are medical tourism destinations for a large number of tourists from the US and European countries. According to Market Data Forecast, the size of the medical tourism market in the Asia- Pacific region will reach a value of 26.20 billion USD by 2027. Malaysia alone is a destination for medical tourists in the Asia-Pacific region with more than 1 million visitors in 2023, an increase of more than 15% compared to 2022. Indonesia is the country that contributes the most medical tourists to Malaysia with a rate of 70% -80%. Tourists from Bangladesh, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong (China), the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, the US and the UK, etc. also come to Malaysia in this form.

VIET LE

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/muc-tieu-kha-thi-post727149.html