Medical Tourism in Taiwan

With the recent Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed between China and Taiwan, mainland tourist volumes, which already account for 22% of Taiwan’s inbound visitor numbers, look set to rise. Medical tourism is emerging as a possibly lucrative market in Taiwan.

Lion Travel, Taiwan’s biggest travel agency, is betting on the growth of this segment by offering packages where tourists can have plastic surgery, recover in a secluded spa and go sightseeing, all in a 5-day tour.

The main advantage that Taiwan has is that all its medical services – from CT scans for serious heart illnesses to plastic surgery and other non-essential services – are comparatively cheap. A CT scan costs HK$7250 in Taiwan compared with HK$20000 in Hong Kong. Medical costs in Taiwan are roughly one-seventh the costs in the US and half the costs in Australia – hence, the boom in medical tourism may be supplemented by sources other than the mainland too. Another advantage is that people can get sensitive things like plastic surgery done without anyone knowing.

Lion Travel has teamed up with 6 hospitals – betting its future on the world-class medical facilities Taiwan has built over the last 25 years. Moreover, while they were put off by the hassle of flying through Hong Kong in the past, younger Chinese are bound to be a large proportion of travellers to Taiwan from the mainland. These are the people who are attracted by the prospect of having plastic surgery done – this will only help the industry. While medical tourism only accounted for 0.51% of cross-strait travel last year, that figure looks set to change.