19 Jan
Record Numbers of Britons Fly Abroad for Medical Treatment
Market researchers Mintel report that last year alone Brits went on no less than 205,000 health and wellness holidays, spending an estimated £135 million on these kinds of holidays and the fun doesn’t stop there, with sales set to increase by as much as 150% by 2011. “This sector (homeopathic tourism) is a thriving industry as a developing figure of well-off baby boomers take their health needs into their own hands plus pursue the elixir of eternal youth,” said Richard Cope, senior Mintel analyst.
“It seems many British tourists are developing a taste for a holiday with a difference. Tired of the fly and flop package deals, they are opting for spa holidays, holistic breaks or in some cases a medical break for a session of cosmetic surgery or dentistry. Although this is a niche market, health and wellness holidays are steadily growing into a high value business, with the average cost of a trip well in excess of the holiday market norms. This market is fuelled by those looking to escape the pressures of a culture of long working hours and what some operators see as an urge to retreat from the debilitating effects of the consumer society,”
Medical Tourism is yet another sector that New Zealand is missing out on as there seems little government resolve in developing this market.
Our neighbours, Australia, held their first Health and Wellness Tourism conference in September 2009. At that conference, it was discussed how Health and Wellness tourism is estimated to be worth in excess of US$1 trillion and is one of the fastest-growing drivers in the travel industry. Ruth Grau, Springboard Vacations USA and Medtral NZ has stated that New Zealand has a potential of 2000 medical tourists a year ( Inside Tourism 742, June 19, 2009), and explains why New Zealand is attractive to medical tourists. In addition, Dr. Hans Raetz, who is involved in the development of a Southern Cross private hospital in New Zealand tourism hotspot Queenstown says that there is a real possibility for medical tourism at the resort (Travel Memo 24 March 2009). In fact, the Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand, in its brief to the incoming Minister of Tourism in December 2008, stated that the “wellness market (has) the potential to attract high value visitors and would benefit from target marketing’. Meanwhile, Medical Tourism “has not been something that has been considered’, according to Associate Minister of Tourism Jonathan Coleman (Inside Tourism 742, June 19, 2009)
