People are travelling abroad today to have everything from a heart bypass to a nose job. Sally White reports on what is fast becoming booming business

Sun, sea and surgery – a catchy line for what is becoming mega-business, with most patients accessing it online. As healthcare costs soar, the marketing says, why not enjoy yourself as well as improve your health. Medical tourism is fast becoming a multi-billion dollar market which just about every country is trying to enter. Dubai is even planning a ‘healthcare city’.

One stab at the size of the market, taken by consultants Transparency Market Research, put its potential at $32.5 billion by 2019 against $10.5 billion in 2012. Yet that covers just Costa Rica, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Brazil, Turkey, India, Taiwan, Poland, Dubai, Mexico, Malaysia and Singapore. African countries are getting into the act – according to international law firm Covington & Burling this is one of the “few industries where intra-Africa trade surpasses that of countries outside the continent”. America is huge, and Europe is strong historically.

Marketing group Brand USA, has taken at look at US national travel and tourism statistics and come up with a figure of $195 billion as the spend by domestic and international travellers on health-related trips. US-based Patients Beyond Borders estimates that the world market is expanding at 15-25% a year, with growth rates highest in Asia.

China – ahead of the game

Searching via all the major international OTAs brings up links to medical centres around the world, and Airbnb offers accommodation handily near to medical facilities. Yet, of course, it is China that is ahead of the game in embracing the opportunities. There are a number of Chinese apps to cater to users’ healthcare needs. Chunyu, seen as the No. 1, DXY, Guahao and Sunnymum are just some online healthcare platforms that help consumers, according to the Marketing China website run by Shanghai-based Gentlemen Marketing Agency.

And these platforms are attracting investment from the China’s major online travel groups, such as mega Chinese portal Tencent. However, the cash-rich Chinese insurance industry and investment funds are also putting up money. Chunyu has raised a $50 million of funding from major investor groups China International Capital Corporation and Dunan Holding. Ping An, one of the largest insurers, has a subsidiary JK.com which operates a virtual hospital.

None of this surprising when the 2014 cross-border healthcare market alone in China is estimated, according to China’s Aesthetics & Plastic Surgery Association, at $100 billion.  

As well as connecting patients to doctors, some of the Chinese websites offer the chance to ask questions in English ahead of an appointment – though Marketing China’s featured example, ‘I’ve cut my finger off, can I re-attach it with super glue?’ may not be that useful.

The dental market is also an important sector, driven by robust expansion of facilities on offer in India, Turkey and Hungary, according to another recent report from Transparency Market Research. However, Europe, especially Germany and the UK, enjoy the largest share, according to the research group.

Who travels and where?  

The latest Transparency Market Research figures show that an estimated 45% share of the total foreign tourist arrival in Asia was taken by Thailand at 2.5 million foreign patients, mostly from Western Europe. India offers specialisation in cardiac surgery, while Singapore’s sphere is complex surgical procedures. Malaysia offers a wide range of specialisations, modern healthcare infrastructure and highly skilled medical professionals. Government support and cost-effective treatments are likely to make Malaysia, it hopes, a leading destination with 2 million patients by 2019.

Among Gulf state Dubai’s health tourists, according Dubai’s Health Authority (DHA), half are from the Gulf region, a third from the wider Arab world, with the rest from Eastern and Western Europe and Asia. DHA is also targeting countries such as Russia, the CIS countries, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Angola and the United Kingdom

DHA knows its target – ‘half a million health and wellness visitors by 2020’ compared to 135,000 tourists (around 15% of the total patients) last year. The government has earmarked medical tourism as a key economic growth sector and afocal point of inward investment is Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC). Founded in 2002 as a free zone centred on medical education, treatment, research and enterprise, it now has more than 130 clinical facilities.

A heart bypass in the United States typically costs $88,000. In Costa Rica, that figure drops to $31,500

According to a US news agency CNN story earlier this year, in 2014 well over a million American tourists left the country to seek care abroad. The reason is obvious. As CNN reporter points out, data compiled by US consumer group AARP, shows a heart bypass in the United States typically costs $88,000. In Costa Rica, that figure drops to $31,500. A new hip would cost $33,000 in the States and $12,400 in Thailand. The bill for a nose job could be $6,200 in the US, but only $2,800 in Mexico. Those who can get their insurance companies to pay the bill would not benefit, but how many are adequately covered?

MEDIGO - Airbnb meets Yelp for healthcare

The site of UK-based healthcare provider MEDIGO offers to help patients (for free), primarily in Europe and the US, find the best treatments and value around the world. It has been described as Airbnb meets Yelp for healthcare. Clinics listed must provide support in obtaining flights, accommodation, transport and medical record transfers. Investment group Accel Partners led a $6 million funding for the business late last year.

The DocDoc Singapore site raised over $8 million from a formidable list of blue-chip investors this year for its Asian search tool for physicians. Looking for funds is Emissary, a San Francisco-based early stager started by a group of engineers from Google and Zynga - it focuses on Costa Rica and mainly dental surgery.

Other new companies include HealthTap and ShopMD. As more and more patients realise that they can look for medical services anywhere in the world, the community of apps and entrepreneurs is growing fast. There are many more start-ups listing services waiting in the wings. However, attempts by some providers to list on Ebay, as seen in Asia, were probably not quite right.