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Baht/$ 33.70/73 (Bid/Ask)
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TOURISM
Huge potential seen in health treatment
CHADAMAS CHINMANEEVONG
Phyathai Hospital is among a handful of local providers that have invested heavily in high-tech medical equipment in recent years to attract more foreign patients. |
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) aims to attract 265,600 Indonesian tourists this year by aggressively promoting Thailand as the health-care hub of the region.
Porntip Amkornpan, a director of the TAT's Singapore office, said Indonesia had a lot of potential to grow given its population of 240 million. If Thailand attracts only one percent or 2.4 million travellers, there would be huge economic benefits.
More importantly, she added, most rich Indonesians prefer to seek medical care abroad because of higher standards and technologies. In the past, most Indonesian visitors travelled to Thailand for shopping, but today the trend is changing. They like to combine health check-ups and shopping together.
The most popular health-care services among Indonesians include lasik eye treatment, plastic surgery, dental care and checkups.
To support the promotion, the TAT plans to open a new office in Jakarta in 2010.
The hospital business in Thailand has been experiencing steady growth with many accredited hospitals such as Bumrungrad, Phyathai and Bangkok Nursing Home welcoming a large number of overseas patients.
Prakit Piriyakiet, the executive director of the TAT's Asean, South Asia and South Pacific Region, believed that more Indonesians could be expected due to many factors including the availability of flights from Thai Airways International and other carriers,
Moreover, Mr Prakit said, the recent announcement of a tax waiver for Indonesian passport holders, who pay approximately US$107 or 3,500 baht every time they make an overseas trip, will be an incentive. The tax waiver will take effect from Jan 1, 2009.
In the first half of this year, Indonesian tourist arrivals to Thailand at Suvarnabhumi Airport totalled 77,293, compared to 58,167 in the same period last year.
Indonesian outbound tourists seeking medical care are forecast to increase to between 350,000 and 400,000 from 250,000 in 2007.
According to Surapong Ambhanwong, Phyathai Hospital's chief medical and international business officer, international health care tourism to Thailand has been increasing continuously.
Mr Surapong expects that the number of international health tourists will increase to 1.69 million this year, from 1.4 million last year, with 300,000 coming from Asia, 257,568 from Europe, 152,360 from the Middle East and the rest from other markets.
For Asean, the top four source markets for health tourists to Thailand are Burma, Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesian respectively.
In addition to Indonesia, the TAT plans to expand the promotion of health tourism to Vietnam and India in 2009.
The TAT on Friday introduced a major campaign to promote health-care services to travellers in Indonesia. The promotion represents collaboration between the TAT, Phyathai and Fly Free for Health. Organisers are inviting Indonesian celebrities to use the health-care services of Phyathai, which will be combined with shopping experiences.
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