Category Archives: Reports,Features, Statistics

New Hampton Inn, World of Beer coming to West Shore

Posted on July 1, 2015 | Comments Off on New Hampton Inn, World of Beer coming to West Shore
The future Hampton Inn & Suites will take advantage of a growing medical tourism industry and Avion Park’s proximity to Tampa International Airport, its operator says. It is scheduled to open next summer. MCKIBBON HOTEL GROUP

The future Hampton Inn & Suites will take advantage of a growing medical tourism industry and Avion Park’s proximity to Tampa International Airport, its operator says. It is scheduled to open next summer. MCKIBBON HOTEL GROUP

Tampa  :

Development in downtown Tampa has been getting the lion’s share of attention, but the West Shore Business District is keeping pace.

McKibbon Hotel Group broke ground this week on a seven-story, 178-room Hampton Inn & Suites the company says will take advantage of a growing medical tourism industry and Avion Park’s proximity to Tampa International Airport for business travelers.

It’s the group’s fourth major hotel in the West Shore district and its 11th in Tampa.

“The market is growing. That’s the real key,” said John McKibbon, chairman of the hotel group. “We’re doing very well at our existing hotels, and this is a different brand — the Hampton Inn & Suites is a little different than the hotels that we have there now.”

The hotel group also announced it has a lease agreement with World of Beer Franchising to open a new tavern in 2016, supporting the city’s growing craft beer culture. World of Beer Tampa Avion Park will feature a 4,800-square-foot tavern with a 1,200-square-foot patio.

The franchise pairs its craft brews with its signature “Tavern Fare” menu featuring comfort foods, traditional bar offerings and such touches as Bavarian pretzels and a Guinness “Brat” slider. Paul Jacobs, joint venture partner with World of Beer, said he expects to host social gatherings such as runners clubs and “yappy hours.”

“World of Beer has really tapped into something special with its unique tavern concept and this location will be a great positioning of the brand,” Jacobs said in a statement announcing the agreement.

McKibbon said his group had its sights on a fourth hotel for several years. The Laser Spine Institute’s announcement in December that it will build a new headquarters and ambulatory surgery center at Avion Park provided confidence that the area would support another hotel.

“The Hampton Inn & Suites will offer Laser Spine’s patients and their families a brand-new hotel property as well as meeting space for the institute’s conferences and events,” McKibbon said.

The spine institute operates seven regional surgery centers across the country.

The hotel will provide complimentary daily hot breakfast, on-the-run breakfast bags Monday through Friday, a pool, fitness center and 2,300 square feet of meeting space.

Ann Kulig, deputy director of the Westshore Alliance, said the new hotel will be a “valuable and much-needed asset” in the district. She said it will bring nearly 50 jobs and critical meeting space.

Kellogg & Kimsey Inc. is the general contractor for the hotel, which will open in late summer 2016.

jstockfisch@tampatrib.com / (813) 259-7834

source: http://www.tbo.com / TBO – The Tampa Tribune / Home> Business> News / by Jerome R. Stockfisch – Tribune Staff / June 30th, 2015

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Posted in Health /Medical Treatment For Overseas Treatment, Reports,Features, Statistics, Travelling For Surgery Abroad / Medical Surgery Overseas, Wellness Tourism

Move to ensure medical tourism quality

Posted on June 20, 2015 | Comments Off on Move to ensure medical tourism quality

– Hospitals, travel operators welcome plan for a dedicated board for unregulated sector

by Sumi Sukanya

New Delhi :

The tourism ministry plans to establish a medical tourism board tasked with devising strategies to draw more foreign patients to India and setting standards for an industry that many believe has burgeoned unchecked.

Hospitals welcomed the proposal saying it would help draw Western tourists to India’s health care institutions, whose foreign clients now come mostly from other South Asian countries, West Asia and Africa.

The board will have representatives from the tourism and health ministries, hospitals and the travel industry.

“This sector has grown on its own over the past decade but is largely unorganised,” tourism minister Mahesh Sharma told The Telegraph.

“We want the board to help interlink all the key players in this sector to provide seamless service to patients.”

The proposal will soon be sent to the cabinet as part of the national tourism policy 2015, said Suman Billa, a joint secretary in the tourism ministry.

“We need standardised procedures in place to organise the industry. One of the focuses would be to put in place guidelines to ensure the quality of the services,” Billa said.

India is among Asia’s top three medical tourism destinations (after Thailand and Singapore), drawing patients mainly because of the lower treatment costs compared with the West, and the country’s quality health care infrastructure and highly skilled doctors, says a 2014 report by industry chamber Ficci.

About 2.3 lakh foreign patients sought treatment in India last year. The country’s medical tourism industry is expected to touch $6 billion (around Rs 38,000 crore) by 2018, the Confederation of Indian Industry estimates.

“It’s not just big hospitals but wellness centres, particularly in south India, that are drawing tourists from western countries,” Billa said.

Delhi is one of India’s top medical tourism destinations for those seeking advanced surgical procedures. Karnataka and Kerala have been attracting patients mainly through their naturopathy and Ayurveda centres.

Nishant Jain, associate vice president with Fortis Healthcare, lauded the government’s initiative.

“The Union government has been taking several positive steps to help the sector, like a medical visa regime, but a board set up specifically for the purpose will give a value advantage to the industry,” he said.

The hospital chain received 14,000 foreign patients last year, most of them at its centres in the National Capital Region.

“Such a board has been a longstanding demand from the industry,” said Karan Thakur, a senior doctor at Apollo Hospitals, Delhi, some 12 to 14 per cent of whose 750 beds are occupied by foreign patients at any given time.

“The medical and wellness tourism industry in India has been doing well for itself but a handheld approach from the government would mean we can tap the market even in developed countries, as opposed to developing countries, from where we get the maximum patients now,” Thakur said.

Sandeep Bafna of India Travels, a Bangalore-based tour operator that organises wellness trips for foreigners, said the Centre should focus on advertising what Indian health care institutions can offer tourists.

“The government’s Incredible India campaign has helped build goodwill about the country. If the government is really serious about health tourism, its focus should be on advertising,” he said.

“It will particularly help tour operators and health centres that lack the financial resources to campaign on their own.”

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta, India / Front Page> Story / by Suki Sukanya / New Delhi – June 19th, 2015

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Posted in Health /Medical Treatment For Overseas Treatment, Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Reports,Features, Statistics

Boom Time for Medical Tourism in Malaysia

Posted on June 19, 2015 | Comments Off on Boom Time for Medical Tourism in Malaysia

For as low as US$700, you can have a four-night stay at Kuala Lumpur’s Shangri-La, a city tour, and an “executive health screening” which includes a medical consultation and blood and urine tests. For the same price, you can have a basic dental treatment instead, which features a dental x-ray, some fillings and a treatment plan under Malaysia’s medical tourism campaign.

This was the offer made by Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council representatives in their recent visit to New Zealand. About 2,000 New Zealanders visited Malaysia as medical tourists and the government-run council plans to increase the numbers. This is something it has been aggressively marketing since it was set up in 2009.

Medical tourism increased ten-fold in as many years and is one of the top revenue earners for the country. The country is going to great pains to make sure this sector continues to earn big bucks. Even to the extent of ensuring there is a special lounge for medical tourists at Kuala Lumpur international airport (KLIA) and Penang International Airport.

Latest boost to Malaysia’s healthcare sector

IHH Healthcare Bhd, Asia’s largest hospital operator by market value and world’s second-largest listed healthcare operator by market capitalisation, recently announced expansion plans. It plans to add 3,000 beds to its existing 7,000 beds by 2017 through new hospitals and expansion of current ones, and is also looking for mergers and acquisitions to accommodate the expected increase in medical tourism. IHH Healthcare is 43.6 per cent owned by Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia’s main government-linked investment company.

Last month, a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) on co-operation was signed between Malaysian hospitals and Vietnamese insurance companies in Hanoi. The signing ceremony, organised by Insmart Co Ltd, saw the inclusion of Malaysia’s National Heart Institute, one of the leading cardiovascular and thoracic health centres in the region, Malaysian private hospitals Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care and Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur, with insurance providers in Vietnam, including Post and Telecommunication Joint Stock Insurance Corporation, Vietinbank Insurance Company and Petrolimex Insurance Corporation.

This means Malaysian hospitals will be complementing the Vietnamese insurance companies’ service and Vietnamese policyholders will be heading to Malaysia for their medical needs. More than 5,000 Vietnamese medical tourists visited Malaysia for healthcare treatment in the 2013-14 period. The figure was expected to double this year, Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council CEO Sherene Azli was quoted as saying.

Another big player in private healthcare and healthcare tourism, KPJ Healthcare Bhd announced plans to increase its revenue from medical tourism to RM90 million this year from RM78 million in 2014 (US$24 million and US$21 million). “Most of KPJ’s medical tourism patients are from Southeast Asia (Indonesia), the Middle East (Libya) and East Africa (Somalia) among others, and they are here seeking our expertise, be it in oncology, orthopaedics, neurology or heart treatment”, according to their spokesman.

Medical tourism dollars

Malaysia recently won the Medical Travel “Destination of the Year 2015″ award, a prestigious accomplishment presented by UK’s International Medical Travel Journal. Efforts are being made to make sure medical tourism dollars keep rolling into the country.

Tourism and Culture Ministry undersecretary Alan Abdul Rahim was quoted as saying Malaysia attracted almost 800,000 medical tourists in 2014, from 770,000 in 2013. Earnings last year are estimated at RM730 million (US$195 million). For the 11th Malaysia Plan period, the income from medical tourism is expected to grow 15 per cent annually, generating revenue of about RM2 billion (US$530 million) by 2020.

source: http://www.establishmentpost.com / The Establishment Post / Home> Views & News> Healthcare> Finger on the Pulse / by Vanitha Nadaraj / June 18th, 2015

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Posted in Health /Medical Treatment For Overseas Treatment, Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Reports,Features, Statistics, Travelling For Surgery Abroad / Medical Surgery Overseas

Facing Challenges : Medical Tourism at Crossroads between Opportunities and Crises

Posted on April 7, 2015 | Comments Off on Facing Challenges : Medical Tourism at Crossroads between Opportunities and Crises
Advertisements for Korean plastic surgery clinics crowd the walls of Seoul's subway stations and buildings.

Advertisements for Korean plastic surgery clinics crowd the walls of Seoul’s subway stations and buildings.

The medical tourism industry of Korea is at a crisis, as public opinion in China, the number one customer, is getting worse. The risk and the number of cases of serious medical accidents have been on the rise as more medical tourists have plastic surgery in Korea.

Experts point out that no patient at all may visit Korea for medical tourism once the Chinese government puts a restraint on it, because China is a controlled society in various aspects. “This is why an increasing number of Chinese media are reporting medical accidents in Korea these days,” one of them mentioned, adding, “We need to overhaul the system in order to tackle the situation.”

Fortunately, though, the majority of Chinese people still have a positive image about Korea’s medical technology and skills. Korea has a competitive edge in price, too. A laser-based wrinkle treatment costs approximately 10 million won (US$9,065) in China, but just 1.5 to 2 million won (US$1,360 to $1,813) in Korea.

This means the prosperity of medical tourism depends on the efforts of the Korean government to address problems such as illegal attraction of tourists by unregistered firms, hospitals’ direct transactions with unregistered foreign firms and the lack of an organization to represent registered firms.

source:  http://www.businesskorea.co.kr / Business Korea / Home / by Cho Jin-Young / Seoul – Korea, April 01st, 2015

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Posted in Associations/Organisations/Government/NonGovernment, Health /Medical Treatment For Overseas Treatment, Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Reports,Features, Statistics, Travelling For Surgery Abroad / Medical Surgery Overseas

Turkey sees surge in medical tourism

Posted on April 6, 2015 | Comments Off on Turkey sees surge in medical tourism

HealthTurkeyCT06apr2015

Turkey a strong candidate to become region’s health hub, says hospitals expert

Ankara 

History fanatics, adrenaline junkies, sunbathers and foodies are all in for a treat when heading for a holiday in Turkey, but experts say the nation is also drawing tourists seeking to benefit from Turkey’s competitive edge in medical tourism .

Out of the roughly 40 million tourists who visited Turkey last year, around half a million came for surgical procedures from hair transplants and liposuction to cancer and orthopedic treatment, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.

The number of medical tourists who visited Turkey totaled 414,658, including 86,011 Turkish citizens who live in foreign countries, with revenues reaching nearly $1 billion, an increase of 75 percent in foreign medical visitors to the country compared with 188,295 in 2013.

While the Turkish government spending has been focusing on developing public healthcare infrastructure and treatment, private healthcare spending has been driving much of the growth.

A total of 34 city hospitals are planned to be built for about 30 billion liras ($11.6 billion).

Well-educated workforce 

Private equity investors favor Turkey’s fast-growing service industries, including healthcare, retail and education, because of a near tripling of the nominal per capita gross domestic product over the past decade and a young population of 77 million.

Turkey  provides affordable, high quality healthcare thanks to its well-educated workforce and its location in the world.

The health ministry said that only about 30 percent of these patients received their treatment in public hospitals in the country, the remaining 70 percent were in private hospitals.

Feyman Duygu Oktar, the founder of the Ankara Hair Center, said: “Nowadays, hair transplants have become more popular than in previous years, thanks to higher quality which provides a natural appearance with transparent roots.

“Turkey  has achieved a high level of technological advancement in the field.”

Evolved holiday industry 

And, compared with many other countries, the transplant cost of about 5,000 Turkish liras ($1,929) is a relatively low price. Oktar said most customers come from Europe and the Middle East.

She said: “Turkey’s location, only a 2-3 hour flight from major cities in Europe and the Middle East – and also its evolved holiday industry – are advantages that are bringing in more patients.

“Another advantage is that Turkey does not apply a visa to more than 70 countries, and people from more than 110 countries can reach the country on a non-stop ticket.”

Korkmaz Kıvanc from the Medical Park Hospitals Group said that more than 50 countries in the world defined health tourism as a national industry.

“Turkey is a strong candidate to become the region’s health center,” Kıvanc said.

Big savings

Medical Park Hospitals receives customers from everywhere in the world for organ transplantation, bone marrow transplantation and neurosurgery.

“Medical tourism is not just an economic gain, it also helping improve health services in the country,” Kıvanc added.

People from countries with heavily congested health systems welcome the opportunity to choose the time of their surgeries together with savings of between 60 and 70 percent, which makes treatment more affordable than in European countries.

Mohammed, who preferred not to give his surname and came from Kuwait, said that he preferred Turkey medical treatments due to the lower-cost.

“I saw high quality medical care here. After personal referrals from my friend who had kidney treatments in Turkey, I came to Turkey for a skin treatment,” Mohammed said.

‘Cheap air tickets’

Dilek Sag, a Turkish citizen living in the Netherlands who had dental treatment in Turkey, said health care has a high price abroad.

He said: “We pay €80 for a simple tooth extraction in the EU. It is easy to explain our health problems to doctors in Turkey because we speak the same language. Airline ticket prices are cheap and I trust more doctors in Turkey.”

Sukru Mentes from Germany said: “Around 60 percent of private health spending is covered by health insurance in Germany.

“Patients need to pay only 40 percent but, compared with treatment in Turkey, the price in Germany is still too high.”

“My wife had eye treatment and it was cheaper than our contribution to health care costs in Germany,” Mentes added.

source: http://www.aa.com.tr / Anadolu Agency / Antara – April 01st, 2015

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Posted in Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Reports,Features, Statistics, Uncategorized