Medical Tourism Global Market Report 2021: COVID-19 Growth and Change to 2030

Major players in the medical tourism market are Apollo Hospital Enterprise Limited, Prince Court Medical Center, Bumrungrad International Hospital, KPJ Healthcare Berhad and Fortis Health Ltd.

The global medical tourism market is expected to grow from $19.79 billion in 2020 to $21.93 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8%. The growth is mainly due to the companies resuming their operations and adapting to the new normal while recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $40.03 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 16%.

The medical tourism market includes revenues generated by healthcare service providers by diagnosing and treating the patients who travel across international borders to obtain medical treatment. Patients usually travel from countries lacking healthcare infrastructure or having high healthcare costs to major medical centres in developing countries.

High healthcare cost in developed countries is driving growth in the medical tourism market as developing countries are able to provide cheaper treatment. Patients usually travel to developing countries with quality healthcare infrastructure and low healthcare costs. According to a study conducted by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 0.75 -1.6 million people from the USA travel out of the country for medical care to avoid high treatment cost. For instance, a hip replacement surgery in the USA costs approximately $39,299 while the same surgery in India, Costa Rica or other developing countries would cost between $7000 and $15,000 including logistics.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak is to act as a major restraint for the growth of the medical tourism industry during 2020 and 2021. According to the World Health Organization’s report, 213 countries are affected by the COVID-19 outbreak including countries with a high number of medical tourists such as the USA, China, Japan, and South Korea. The government of various countries has banned travellers from affected countries, barred flights to certain countries, and changed the visa requirements. The American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicted that the situation could last into 2021 and is likely to impact the medical tourism industry significantly. Therefore, the coronavirus outbreak and travel bans are expected to restrict the growth of the medical tourism industry in the near future.

The medical tourism market covered in this report is segmented by treatment type into cosmetic treatment; dental treatment; cardiovascular treatment; orthopaedics treatment; bariatric treatment; fertility treatment; ophthalmic treatment; others.

Patients travelling across countries for medical treatment are increasingly using electronic health records to store information related to health in digital format. Electronic health record is the systematic collection of patient health and medical examination reports stored electronically. These health records can be accessed instantly and securely by authorized users. Electronic health records eliminate the need to carry heavy medical records for patients travelling long distances for treatment. Some of the major electronic health records software include eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, Cerner.

In September 2020, IHH Healthcare, a Malaysian–Singaporean private healthcare group focused on upmarket health services acquired Prince Court Medical Centre for $0.25 billion. Through this acquisition Prince Court Medical Centre will complement IHH's cluster strategy of having specialised tertiary hospitals in Kuala Lumpur. Prince Court Medical Centre, a private healthcare facility located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.