China’s Medical Tourism Market Ramps Up: Special Health Care Zone Launched in Hainan

The need to avoid unnecessary travel has impacted various sectors across the world. Based on statements by analysts, accountable for nearly $87.5 billion annually, the medical tourism market is likely to witness a major fallout until 2021 due to the pandemic. Despite the expected fallout, China’s medical tourism market is all set for transforming the tropical Hainan into a destination for great medical treatment.

Several analysts around the world claim that people in China travel to other countries for getting medical treatment. To broaden the medical tourism market in-house, a special health care zone has been established in Beijing for easy import of medical equipment, technology and drugs into the region.

As stated by the Deputy Director of the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone — Liu Zhefeng, the “[Chinese] go to the United States and Japan for major operations, Thailand for infertility treatment, Ukraine for beautification injections and South Korea for plastic surgery”. He added that “the demand for overseas medical tourism is huge, but totally unnecessary.

Consisting of nearly a dozen hospitals, the Boao Hope City in China (also known as the medical park) is one important zone in President Xi Jinping’s vision of creating an internationally influential free-trade hub by 2050. The recently started special “health care zone” has 200 imported medical solutions.

Authorities focused at improving China’s medical tourism via this zone claim to welcome 200,000 visitors per year. With this initiative, China will be able to make a huge jump from 75,000 people who visited in 2019 and brought in revenues worth 640 million yuan from medical treatment.

Even though the country is working to encourage medical tourism, the fate of the market will depend on actions outside the sector’s control. As per an independent travel analyst specialising in Asia — Gary Bowerman, the way governments are managing healthcare and death rate in their countries “provides reassurance to travellers when selecting a destination in the post-pandemic era, but also demonstrates proven Covid-related expertise, learnings, and capacities should there be tidal rises for infection rates once travel is phased back, and — more importantly — in the event of a more sustained second or third wave”.