Estimates from Bangkok Hospital suggest that medical tourism in Asia could account for as much as US$4 billion in economic activity in less than half a decade. Several years ago the government of Thailand, realizing that the nation already had excellent health care services available, began aggressively promoting medical tourism, designating Phuket as a health and wellness destination. And the tourists have come in steadily increasing number ever since.

To understand the growing impact that medical tourism is having on Phuket, Phuket Post reporters talked to national and local officials, as well as to health care providers, to get an overview of Phuket�s progress as a health and wellness destination.

Akkapol Pruksawan

Deputy Governor for Policy and Planning, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)

Phuket has many selling points to attract people. Phuket is a destination for spas. Medical tourism is a selling point. We have promoted Phuket especially for medical tourism in road shows overseas, highlighting hospitals and spas from all around Thailand.
TAT has coordinated with hospitals and spas all around Thailand. The number of people in the medical tourist group is increasing every year, and it seem like this is the hot product of Phuket tourism right now. Around 1.5 million peole come to Phuket and all over Thailand for medical tourism, and that�s around 17 percent of all tourists who come to visit Thailand.

Nongnit Tengmaneewan

Acting Director, TAT Region 4

Most of the people who come to use services from hospitals are from Scandinavian countries, and others are from Russia and Korea. If we compare the money that non-medical tourists spend per day, it�s around US$144 per person. Medical tourists will spend around US$362 per day per person.

From data given to us by Bangkok Hospital Phuket, we know that the things that tourists come to get services for are illnesses, dental care, acupuncture, laser treatments and skin care, like Botox. Lasik for the eye is famous for tourists who visit Phuket right now. Moreover, other services that tourist come to use are plastic surgery and transsexual operations. Medical visitors are mostly from Australia, New Zealand and Japan. They may come here after contacting agencies in their home countries or, it seems, from word of mouth, when their friends talk about being impressed with the services at hospitals here.

We promote medical tourism by joining with the hospitals to do road shows overseas to promote the cost-effectiveness of medical treatments in Thailand. Not only can they get treatments at cheaper prices than in their counties, using the same high-quality medical equipment, but also they can relax and admire the blue sky and white sand here in Phuket.

Ladawan Charitngam

Manager, Promjai Dental Clinic

We have been open in Phuket for four or five years, but our head clinics in Bangkok, with eight branches, opened around 20 years ago. There�re some differences among patients in Bangkok and patients in Phuket. Mainly, customers in Bangkok are people who come to work in Thailand, and 90 percent are Japanese. For Phuket, we came here following the government�s launching a policy to support Phuket as a healthy city and promoting tourists to come here to know Phuket in another way, not just for natural tourism but for medical tourism, too.

From the first year that we opened a clinic here in Phuket (on Soi Sawatdirak in Patong), we found that the number of customers is increasing every year. At first we had just walk-in customers, and now almost all of our patients are returning to get treatments or services from us again and again. They are coming to Phuket at least once a year. As many people know, tourists who come to visit Phuket love Phuket, and they would like to come back here every year. They come back to our clinic as well, and they stay in the same place and use our services.

The tourists who come here for treatment right now are mostly Scandinavians. Two or three years ago, most patients were from Australia. We�ve seen an increasing number of patients since we moved our office in Patong to the Patong Merlin Hotel. Many of the tourists who stay at the hotel come to ask us about teeth whitening and dental implants, and so on.

We promote the dental clinic with local media and with our website. Recently we�ve had many customers who have booked a course of treatment on the website, and then they come to Phuket just for treatment with us.

I think in the future Phuket will be well known for medical tourism, and the tourists who come to Phuket or Thailand for these services will increase more and more. Thailand has experienced doctors. We have professional doctors and standard medical equipment equal to other countries. I�m sure that tourists who come to get treatment here in Thailand or in Phuket will have good experiences with medical care in our country, and they�ll get a wonderful holiday when they come for treatment.

Dr. Kongkiat Kespechara

Director, Bangkok Hospital Phuket

Thailand is a country that has world-class medical care since many private hospitals have improved their goods and services during the years after the financial crisis. Bangkok Hospital Phuket has worked to improve our standard of medical care after the tsunami destroyed the tourism industry on the island. Governor Niran Kalayanamit had an idea about treating tourists with one�s full effort, and after that, Thai medical services have become world class in the eyes of many foreigners. Phuket has become famous in medical tourism, attracting tourists from many countries around the world. Phuket today is ready to claim a position as a health tourism destination.

Bangkok Hospital Phuket went to many countries around the world to publicize our business, such as England, Sweden, Denmark, Japan and Australia. As well, we have had road shows in Berlin, Germany. Moreover, we have promoted hotels and tourism so that clients have a chance to travel.

The health tourism model of Phuket is the perfect combination of health service with travelling experiences, Phuket is one of the most prestigious destinations for relaxation and fun experiences. Because we are not a big hospital and don�t have enough room for all of our clients, we need to coordinate with hotels on the island. Moreover, we train hotel staff about how to take care of our clients when they�re resting in hotels. There is strong cooperation and great mutual support for the purpose of health tourism between Bangkok Hospital Phuket and our preferred hotels and resorts.

There are three countries that are Thailand�s competitors: Singapore, India and Malaysia. Even though the three of them have an advantage in the prevalence of English, we are similar. One thing that�s different is that we�re also a tourist destination with good services.

Clients will be impressed with both our medical care and our tourist services � good treatment in hospitals and good feeling in beautiful tourist attractions. Customer satisfaction makes them want to visit Phuket again because they trust us, and because of word of mouth.

According to Bangkok Hospital Phuket�s statistical analysis, medical tourists are mostly Asian tourists, Japanese and Koreans. These group are high in the low season, as well as Australians. During high season we have visitors from the UK and European Union.

We found that the demand for plastic surgery and dental work has been increasing continuously, and the number of tourist patients during the 2007-2008 season increased approximately 30-35 percent.

With the number of tourists increasing every year, we put our effort into medical infrastructure. Moreover, we change medical instruments every five years, such as X-rays and instruments for surgery, to ensure that all the tourists with any emergency health incidents have the best during their holidays.