BDMS Wellness Clinic has teamed up with Minor Hotels to set up a health centre targeting wealthy tourists at Anantara Riverside Bangkok as they jointly venture into the growing area of wellness tourism.
The centre, named BDMS Wellness Clinic Retreat, will become a wellness destination for visitors, said Tanupol Virunhagarun, the chief executive of BDMS.
"Wellness tourism is growing worldwide and Thailand can benefit from the trend post-pandemic after the government's reopening of the country," said Dr Tanupol.
Thailand is well-known for its tourist attractions, which is good for the wellness business. The government is also promoting the health and wellness industry.
BDMS expects the domestic wellness industry to grow steadily, with the increasing number of tourists.
"Competition in the health and wellness market is high, but this business has the potential to drive up our economy," said Dr Tanupol.
BDMS Wellness Clinic is a business unit of Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS). At present, 60% of its customers are Thais and 40% are foreigners.
William Heinecke, chairman of Minor International Plc, said BDMS Wellness Clinic Retreat is the first centre in Thailand to serve wealthy tourists who travel to Thailand and want to use wellness services.
"Minor expects the health centre at Anantara Riverside Bangkok to serve around 10-20% of hotel customers," he said.
Anantara Riverside Bangkok is a resort with 400 rooms. Its target market is wealthy customers, mostly foreign tourists.
Minor plans to expand the wellness business by setting up the second health centre on the island of Phuket, which is famous for beaches and tourist attractions.
The company will continue to cooperate with BDMS to jointly grow the wellness business in Thailand as well as overseas in the future.
Wellness tourism globally is expected to reach US$7 trillion by 2025, said Mr Heinecke, citing an estimate made by the Global Wellness Institute.
The recovery of Thai tourism, which was subdued since Covid-19 hit Thailand in early 2020, is believed to support the wellness industry.
Since the government reopened the country late last year and greatly relaxed Covid travel restrictions, the number of foreign tourists has been steadily increasing.