Issue 25

After a dip in the first part of 2014, driven by cost and quality Bangkok is once more the leading destination for medical tourism within the region.

Thailand was ranked as the world’s No. 1 medical tourism destination in 2013 with over 1.8 million patients visiting its hospitals for a mix of necessary and cosmetic surgery, says US based consultancy Patients Beyond Borders.

“Certainly the number of medical tourists bounced back quickly last year,” says Num Thanthuwanit chief executive of hospital services at Bangkok’s Bumrungrad Hospital, which has lead the market in medical tourism after opening in 1997.

While local Thais make up about 50% of the hospital’s patients, it is the offshore patient market that rakes in the money. Dr Thanthuwanit says that the hospital hosts patients from all over the world and is popular with Chinese, Japanese and increasingly, Middle East patients as well as Australian and North American.

Bumrungrad is used by many expatriates who live in the Asia Pacific region as their designated spot for their yearly check up, often combing their visit with a holiday at one of dozens of popular holiday spots in the country. Last year, Bangkok Hospital reported that its Phuket facility was seeing an increasing number of cosmetic surgery patients, particularly from Australia.

BNH hospital operates a different model from Bumrungrad, which has just one central hospital in Bangkok. The Bangkok Dusit Medical Services group, which owns Bangkok Hospital and the capital’s BNH hospital, has 37 hospitals in Thailand including facilities on the popular island destination Koh Samui and at Rayong on the mainland directly opposite that other tourist hotspot Koh Samet.

The surge in medical tourism has been reflected in the share prices of the major hospitals. The stock of Bumrungrad Hospital PCL rose from 96 baht to 150 baht during the year from March 2014 to 2015, likewise shares in Bangkok Dusit Medical Services PCL jumped from 13.05 baht to 19.08 baht in the same period.

According to a 2013 survey by the Medical Tourism Association in the United States nearly 80% of demand for medical travel is driven by cost savings with cosmetic surgery leading all other treatments, representing 38% of demand. About 92% of total spending on medical travel per patient is less than US$30,000 and medical tourists spend between US$7,475 and US$15,833 per medical travel trip. Medical tourists stay an average of 10 nights in Thailand’s hotels before and after their operations compared to an average of just three nights by regular tourists.

Now, as Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospital’s facilities once more find their beds full, occupancy rates at Thai hotels are rising as fun seeking tourists return in their wake. In the first half of last year the number of tourist arrivals was 11.47 million, climbing to 13.3 million in the last six months.

Words by Michael Sainsbury